Nothing lasts forever
by JessyNick
Summary: **COMPLETE!!**This was originally Memories, but its gonna turn into a tragedy. Squall and Rinoa's marriage just starts when it happens. Squinoa! Read and review please!!
1. The Question

I don't own Final Fantasy they're owned by Squaresoft, those lucky people.  
~Jess~  
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I was walking down the hall one day when I saw Squall and Irvine having a discussion. My longtime boyfriend, Squall, was looking very intently at Irvine as Irvine spoke. They were obviously having a deep conversation as they had been doing quite often lately. The surprise to me was that he was actually listening to Irvine he had his eyes transfixed on him. I had noticed that since I'd been with him he'd appreciated his friends a lot more. He also even called them his friends. As I approached them, Squall straightened up and put a hand through his hair, I had obviously interrupted something.   
  
"Hey pretty lady," Irvine said as he tipped his hat my way.  
  
I smiled at him and looked at Squall who was trying not to make eye contact with me. I pushed my face up to his and smiled at him, he gave me a half smile, still not making eye contact. I pouted in his face until he finally said, "Rinoa do you want to go to Balamb tonight? They have a new restaurant I want to go to," he said shyly. I didn't know what was making him so nervous.  
  
"Sure Squall that would be great," I replied to him. "I'm gonna go get ready!!" Then I ran off to our room. Before I went down to the dorm rooms I looked back and Irvine and Squall had resumed their conversation.   
  
I got gotten dressed in something very similar to what I had met Squall in, a short yellow dress with a little bit of lace. When Squall came back to the room he gawked at me, then he gave me a little smile and took my hand. He led me slowly to a rented car and he drove us into Balamb. He got out of the car and ran to open mine for me and helped me out.   
  
"Rinoa close your eyes," he whispered to me. I shot him a quick glance then smiled and I did as he asked. I heard water splashing up against something and I wanted so much to open my eyes, but I did as Squall had asked, I didn't want to ruin his surprise.  
  
After a few long minutes, Squall leaned his head close to mine, and wrapped his arms around my waist. "You can open your eyes now, my angel."  
  
When I opened my eyes I saw a beautiful sunset in the harbor of Balamb, I gasped at its beauty. It had pink, red, and light blue swirling together as the sun set. "Its beautiful," I whispered to Squall.  
  
After a moment of silence, Squall said, "It may be beautiful, but its not half as pretty as what I'm looking at."  
  
I looked at him, a little shocked, 'did Squall just say that?' I saw his eyes staring at me, with such love in them. I found myself gazing into them, the blue-grey eyes staring back at me. Slowly, I turned my head towards his so I could look directly into those eyes. Then I closed my eyes and planted a kiss on his soft pink lips. One of the most amazing feelings on this earth was his lips on mine, I felt him squeeze my sides tighter as he deepened the kiss.  
  
As we kissed, I felt one of his hands leave my side, then he gently pulled away from me and produced something from his pocket. "Rinoa, there's something I've wanted to ask you for a long time now. You've always been the one to open me up, to read me like a book, and for that I'm thankful." He gulped, still looking into her eyes. "I can't explain how you do it, I just don't understand it, but... there's something I want to ask you."  
  
'Why was he shaking' I thought. I held him closer to me, in hopes that he would open up, or at least stop shaking. I continued to stare into his eyes. Desperately waiting for him to continue with what he was going to say.  
  
"Rin...oa," he stammered. I had no idea why he was acting this way. "Rin...I want to ask you something."   
  
I saw the little beads of sweat forming on his forehead, I could feel his heart beating from all over his body. Quickly, he looked away from my eyes to something in the distance, and he became very intrigued by it. I knew he was stalling for time for whatever this question was, I could feel that he wanted me to turn and look at whatever it was, so he could compose himself. So slowly, I turned my head to see exactly what I expected, some boats, buggies, a draw point; all the usual stuff.   
  
I returned my gaze to Squall's eyes, he had stopped shaking now and looked down at his feet. I followed with my eyes to his feet and saw nothing unusual about the way they looked. Then he moved himself towards his feet, away from my grasp. It seemed a little odd but then he took something from next to his shoe, or at least that's what it seemed to be.   
  
His gaze met mine again, "Rinoa, will you do the honor of marrying me?" Then he took the item that was near his foot. A black velvet box with a ring in it. It was the most beautiful ring I'd ever seen. It had a little diamond stone in the middle in the shape of a heart, with little green and blue stones surrounding it. The ring was so modest, it wasn't like those big extravagant engagement rings that most people would show off in any way they could  
  
I screamed with delight, "Of course Squall! Of course I'll marry you!"  
  
He smiled, something he didn't do often enough and got up and embraced me. I softly kissed his cheek, and then he kissed my lips. We stayed there for a long time at the dock, with our lips pressed together, until the moon was high in the sky.  
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Like it? Don't like it? Review either way! And don't forget to read my other stories, my favorite is The Embrace. Its about FF7. 


	2. Happiness if only for a little while

Hey this is chapter 2, I've decided I'm gonna make this a tragedy, hopefully I can make it sad enough, otherwise it'll be stupid. Please read n review and tell me what you think. This is gonna be my first real multi chapter fic so give me time!  
~Jess~  
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I woke up that morning with the same feeling I'd been having all week. I quickly took Squall's arm from off of my waist where he had rested it all night. He could tell something was bothering me, apparently everyone could. At times like this I wished I could keep it all inside like Squall can. I quietly rushed to the bathroom, and took away the ill feeling.   
  
Sitting next to the toilet, I took some toilet paper and whipped my mouth. Tears started coming to my eyes, 'What's wrong with me? The ill feeling is gone now from my stomach, I don't know what causes it.' I got up slowly and quietly brushed my teeth. At times like these I was very happy that Squall had a private bathroom, I didn't want anyone to see me like this. I didn't want their pity. Squall must have heard me mulling about the bathroom because before I noticed his arms were wrapped around my waist and he was leaning his head on my shoulder.   
  
"Rinoa are you alright?" he said with concern. I putted the toothbrush down and turned around in his arms, and wrapped my own around his neck.   
  
"Yes, Squall. It must have just been something I ate." Then I reassured him by kissing his cheek. Squall smiled at me then got undressed and hopped in the shower. But that's not the way I felt. I thought that I was getting sick. Really sick. I didn't want to infect Squall and my friends; the Garden needs them.  
  
Putting on some clothes, I left a note for Squall it read: 'I'm going to the infirmary to see if anything's wrong, I don't feel so good. ~Rinoa.'   
  
I walked slowly into the infirmary trying not to attract any attention to myself. I watched gratefully as I saw Selphie running from Irvine with his hat on her head. I slipped into the infirmary and told Dr. Kadowaki the sickness I'd been feeling. I told her if I was contagious that I should be quarantined as soon as possible. She ran a lot of tests of me, and asked a lot of questions. When she was done with the tests she told me to sit in the room while she got the results. I heard her pick up the phone, and I knew exactly whom she was calling.   
  
I laid back on the bed thinking of how Squall would react if I was sick. It had never happened before and I wonder how he would take it. Would he be cool and collected or would he be jittery? Then I heard the door open and Squall's boots upon the tile. He walked over to the cot that I was sitting on and sat next to me and put his arm around me. He looked into my eyes as we sat there in silence.  
  
Then Dr. Kadowaki came in, we both looked up at her. I felt Squall's arm tense up as she started to speak. I knew he didn't want to show his emotions, but I could feel them.  
  
I felt the lump in my throat as I asked, "What is it?"  
  
She started, "Rinoa what your going through is perfectly normal for a woman like you." My mind raced a woman like me? Is it because I'm a sorceress? She noticed my confusion and quickly began speaking again. "A woman such as yourself, because your pregnant."  
  
I was stunned by what she had said. Squall smiled a big, happy smile, I was never quite sure if I'd ever seen a reaction like that. I felt his strong arms embrace me. I threw my arms around him. Now all my fears were calmed about me being sick and infecting everyone. I could finally relax, at least if it were just at the beginning of my pregnancy. I felt Squall kiss my cheek sweetly, and I almost melted, he had been so open lately.   
  
Back in our room, Squall watched me like a hawk. He watched me like I was some china doll that if moved one inch, it would shatter into a million pieces. I was in bliss, Squall had proposed to me a few days ago, and now we would have a little bundle of joy in our lives.  
  
"Squall, I don't want anyone to know about our baby."  
  
"Why Rinoa? Aren't you happy about it?"  
  
"Of course I am, it's just... I don't want people to treat me differently. I don't want people like Quistis always scolding me for moving wrong or something. I don't know how to explain my feelings. I just don't want everyone to know just yet. We'll tell them when its time," I peeked over at his face. His head was nodding, he completely understood why. It was just the same with him, he was always afraid people would talk about him in the past tense, this was a lot like that I convinced myself.  
  
Three months later, we were wed. Everyone came to the wedding, every news reporter, everyone at Garden; everyone in Balamb, all showed up to see our wedding. I was only showing a little bit; not enough for people to notice. The wedding was absolutely splendid. We held the reception in the ballroom, where Squall and I first met. It all felt so special. Squall was so handsome that night, I'll always remember the way he looked, he looked like he hadn't aged a bit since our first dance out on that floor under the stars.   
  
Weeks later, I was walking to the cafeteria to meet up with Squall and the others for lunch. I had on baggy clothes as I had been wearing a lot at that time, to conceal my pregnancy. I still didn't feel ready. I had on some baggy pants and Squall's leather jacket, it was big on me so it hid my stomach pretty well.   
  
Humming as I walked down the hall in the Garden. I thought about our baby, it was doing great. Dr. Kadowaki just had reassured me that the baby was fine. She had printed up an ultra sound picture for me to show Squall. You can hardly tell it's a baby. It's so small to fit in my tummy like that. I thought.  
  
I was consumed in my thoughts and I hadn't seen him sneak up behind me. He grabbed me from behind and covered my mouth to prevent my screaming. I started kicking and punching, hoping all the commotion would get someone's attention, but there was no one out in the halls. My kicking and punching had been doing nothing, since my captor had cast a protect on himself. Then he put me in a car with two others, and that was as much as I could remember.  
  
I awoke in a cell. There was a metal tray with food and water on it. Hesistantly, I got up and fed myself. I had to keep strong for the baby. I shivered, I was so scared. I twirled my wedding ring on my finger, to keep me calm. I had to think about the facts, that's what Squall would do in this situation right?   
  
Fuijin came into the cell. I looked at her in disgust. She looked back at me and I saw a bruise or maybe a hickey.. on her neck. She also had a blue mark on her eye that was not covered by her eye patch. The image was a little frightening, why would my captor hurt his own people?   
  
She said to me in her normal tone, "OBEY!" Then she left me alone again in the cell.  
  
I zipped up the leather jacket. It smelled of Squall. I huddled myself in it, trying to get warm. Feeling a little homesick in the intoxicating scent, I searched the pockets with my fingers. I couldn't find the ultrasound. I hope my captor didn't take it, I hope I dropped it in the Garden. It could be a great clue as to me missing, I thought.   
  
Then my captor came into my cell. It was Seifer with a smug look on his face, as he practically pranced into the cell. He had his sword, Hyperion with him. He came right over to where I was sitting and slapped me, sending me flying onto the floor. I screamed with pain, no one had ever acted so cruel to me before. "Seifer what is it that you want!?"  
  
"I'm just slapping you, you little whore. You went out, got married, and pregnant, while I was imprisoned by the one you stole your innocence."  
  
"What are you talking about?" I asked, feeling very scared by now.  
  
"Rinoa, I know as much as you try to hide it, it's very obvious of your condition. When I saw you walking down that aisle on TV. Walking down the aisle to be wed to him."  
  
"Seifer, can I ask your point? Why have you taken me away?"  
  
"My point? I just need to finish what I started with both of you. I need to finish my duel with him, and the carving I started on you." He laughed to himself happily, then left me scared, and half way to tears on the floor.   
  
The carving, I thought. It was so painful when he started it. That night was the last night we dated, Seifer and I. We had been walking down the street when he pushed me up against that cold wall. Then he took out Hyperion and started carving an S. right above my breast. He would have started the A. too, but thank goodness that man came and stopped him. That's when I couldn't see him anymore, when he tried to make me his property, an item that he could play with. I remembered the days afterward, when it was still bleeding. The blood seeped through my shirt, even the strongest bandage wouldn't keep the blood from seeping. I remembered all the cure spells I used, just to take the pain away for a while.  
  
Then I thought about Squall's face when he stumbled upon the S. He looked so confused when he found it, when he was kissing down my neck like that. He looked up at me for a minute, and saw the sadness come to my eyes. I didn't know what he would do when he found it, but when he saw my eyes, he kissed it gently, and it soothed me. I no longer had to fear the way he would react to the scar I would carry forever above my breast.  
  
I said quietly to myself, "Oh when will Squall come and get me out of here?" Then I tried to fall asleep on the hard bed. Drifting off into a dreamless slumber.  
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Did you like it? Please Review it!! I worked really hard on this chapter, I hope it shows! Thanks for the reviews I got on the first chapter! That's the most reviews I've gotten yet! 


	3. Enlightenment and deceit

Hey, sorry I haven't updated, Fanfiction wouldn't let me on for a while there. Then I had finals and everything else, you know the drill.   
~Jess~  
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Squall had been sitting in his room with his head in his hands. He was so offended that I had not joined them for lunch as I had promised. He thought he had driven me away some how, just like the way he thought he drove Ellone away. When curfew was approaching, Squall decided to go look for me, hoping that I hadn't left him. First he went to Dr. Kadowaki, then all of his friends, asking around if they had seen me. It wasn't until the next day that they had figured it out.  
  
Squall was practicing in the Training Center when he heard the door slide open behind him. He turned and saw Quistis approaching him with something in her hand, "Squall, you've got to see this. I don't know whose this is." The she passed him the ultra-sound picture. As he looked at it his knees buckled, a sudden flash of gentleness took his eyes, but only for a second. They were then replaced by the same clouded way as they always used to be.  
  
"Do you know whose baby this is?" Quistis asked, she hadn't seen the change in his eyes.  
  
"Yes Quistis I do."  
  
"I wasn't aware that anyone was pregnant at the Garden. We should get the picture back to her."  
  
"Where did you find this?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the picture.  
  
"Out in the hall by Dr. Kadowaki's office."  
  
"Was it going toward the cafeteria?"  
  
"Ummm..." Quistis paused for a minute, "Yes, why yes it was. Why would that make any difference?"  
  
"Well, this picture explains why Rinoa didn't meet us for lunch."  
  
"Rinoa's pregnant!?" Quistis screamed, "Why didn't you tell anyone!? We all would have had an eye on her and helped her out if she needed it."  
  
"Squall continued to look at the picture, "That's exactly what she didn't want, Quistis. She wanted everything to be like normal." He touched his gloved finger to the picture, as though he was trying to touch the figure. Then he turned to leave.  
  
"Wait, Squall. Let's talk about this." Quistis said.  
  
Squall turned to look at her, "...Whatever."  
  
"No Squall, please stay. Let me help you." Squall turned back to the door and started walking toward it. Quistis screamed, trying to say anything to keep Squall there. "Let....Let me see the picture again!"  
  
Squall sensed the urgency in her voice, carefully he put the ultra-sound in his pocket. He sensed that something wasn't right, why would Quistis so insistent to keep him there? He started to walk out of the center and he heard Quistis' light footsteps behind him. Then he walked faster, and he heard Quistis' footsteps grow quicker as well. Something must have been going on; usually nobody would have chased him at all. Suddenly, Squall bolted as fast as he could and he heard Quistis behind him run as well when he ran into his dorm. He looked around furiously, everything seemed alright. But then he saw the glow of the monitor illuminate the floor. Quistis stood in the doorframe with her eyes glued to Squall as he walked over to the computer, to see the letter, from my captor.  
  
When I woke up my face hurt, from the blow I had received. I put a hand to my face; the touch made it tingle. I thought of Squall and hugged the jacket close to me. The scent of him was fading from the outside of the jacket. I zipped it up to the top and put my nose inside. I inhaled the scent and longed for the man who carried it.   
  
The door was then flung open. I glared at Seifer as he pranced back into the cell. I was relieved to see that he didn't have his gunblade with him. But he did have something in his hand. It was shiny and black, it glowed from the light that poured into the room.  
  
"Rinoa dear. Would you like to go home?" he pointed the object at me.  
  
"Seifer you know I would, so let me go!" I snapped at him. Two guards then came into the cell and held onto my arms after they had lifted me up. Seifer then pushed a button on the object, and I realized it was a phone when I heard the dial tone.  
  
"Alright Rinoa, I'll call up your husband and tell him to pick you up." He said as he dialed some numbers. "Hello Squall?" he paused, I could hear something coming through on the other side, I thought I heard Squall yelling. "Yes Squall I'm aware of Rinoa's condition. The condition that is all your fault. You treated her like an object and used her." He paused again, this time Squall yelled louder, but I couldn't make out what he was saying. "Do you wish to get her? Then come and give me what I want." Seifer was about to hang up but then he said, "Oh, you wish to speak to her? Alright hold on." He pressed the phone up to my ear.  
  
"Squall?"   
  
"Rinoa, don't worry I'll get you out of there. We'll all be fine. I need to save you. He wants something very great to Garden and to everyone," he paused for a minute, I heard him take a deep breathe as he muttered the word, "Cid."  
  
I screamed "No Squall you can't! I'm not..." I was interrupted by Seifer smacking me with the phone. The guards let go of me as I fell to the floor with a crash.  
  
"Look what you made me do Rinoa." Seifer said with a smirk. Then he put the phone up to his own ear. "Now Squall, you get it, you understand. I believe we have an agreement. Goodbye." As he was going to press the off button I heard Squall scream into the phone, "Rinoa look in your..." But the button was pressed and I didn't hear the end of the sentence. Seifer and his guards then left me laying on the floor. They left me wondering what Squall had tried to say. I sat down in the corner of the cell and put my knees up. I then put my elbows on them and put my head in my hands and cried.   
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Hey, sorry again for the long wait, please Read n Review!! 


	4. A sound from Heaven

Sorry the wait took so long! But here it is! I'm starting something new too, if you review me I'll review YOU! So please review my stories, it makes me so happy!  
~Jess~  
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Squall shook his head and turned his phone off. Quistis was still in the doorframe and now she came into the room and quietly shut the door. Going over to Squall, she put her arm around his shoulder, "It'll be alright Squall. I'm sure Seifer won't do much to her."  
  
Squall shrugged her arm off his shoulder. "Quistis, he HIT her. That's doing much to her, just laying a finger on her with any evil intentions is something bad." Squall's voice got louder as he started to get angry, "Don't you understand Quistis!?"  
  
Quistis took a step back, afraid of Squall in his current state, she said in a soothing tone, "Squall, I was only trying to help, I'm sorry I offended you."  
  
Squall put his head into his hand, "We need to find him and save Rinoa that's what matters right now." Then he moved to get out of the room, "You can help me if you wish."  
  
Quistis followed him out of the room, not knowing what Squall planned to do in this situation. He got into the elevator and went to floor 3, then he burst through the door to Cid's office.  
  
"Ahh Squall what can I help you with?" the old man said sitting behind his large desk, reading through some files.  
  
"I need help to find Seifer, it is of dire importance."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
Squall folded his arms, "He kidnapped my wife, and is holding her for ransom."  
  
Quistis added, "Seifer wants you, Cid."  
  
"Oh dear," Cid said, rising from his fluffy chair. "That does present a problem. Don't worry, I can get my wife working on finding an impersonator. It ought to work."  
  
Quistis nodded, "Yes Cid, that is a great idea and when Seifer finds out that the person is a fake he'll let him go!"  
  
Squall said quietly, "Or kill him."  
  
Cid shook his head, "Nah, I'll find the best in the business, I'm sure my wife can cast some good protects on this person. Or some other conjured up spell. Now go, I'm going to get to work on this. Don't worry Squall, we'll save Rinoa."  
  
I felt so alone. I hadn't talked to anyone since Seifer came in with the phone. Poor Squall, how was he handling all this? I huddled closer in the corner, in the darkness of the room where the light didn't shine. I needed some kind of information as to what was going on.   
  
Suddenly, I heard the doorknob jiggle and Seifer jumped into the room. I looked up at him with such hate in my eyes, he almost seemed hurt, almost. He came in with the two guards again, probably brainwashed, or Seifer had offered them something great in return for my torture. I needed some way to protect my baby and my new family that would be arriving in months. I needed to be back in Garden, watching Squall in the Training Area.   
  
The guards lifted me up and brought me into the light in the room, I squinted my eyes since the light had blinded me for a short moment. He had the phone again, apparently trying to cause more pain for my beloved husband. I sighed, I wish he wouldn't harass my love, I wished that the whole situation was gone.   
  
Seifer smiled at me, "So Rinoa, care to talk with your husband again. I hope he's at home. What's wrong? You look so sad Rinoa, tell Seifer what is wrong."  
  
I didn't answer him. I couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing the deep pain I was feeling. All I could do was look up at him as he dialed the phone to call Squall. He got joy out of it too, he was smiling and a little giddy when the phone was ringing.  
  
"Hey Squall miss me?" Seifer paused and I could hear heated words, just the reaction he wants I thought. "I know you love listening to my voice. Tell me what about our little bargain, have you got that situated yet? Got him to go along with the plan?" He paused, this time I heard no words, no yelling from Squall. "Fine, I'll let you talk to her, but be quick."  
  
Finally I heard Squall's voice again. It sounded so sweet like music that fulfilled the senses. "Rinoa? Baby? Are you alright?"  
  
"Yea Squall," I responded, trying not to sound feeble, "Don't worry about me too much, everything will be fine I'm sure."  
  
"Of course it will Rinoa. I'll be there, I promise. OH! I was trying to tell you, when you get the chance, look in your pocket. I'm sure it will keep your spirits up. How's the baby?"  
  
"Good, I miss..." I was interrupted by Seifer taking the phone away from me.  
  
"Enough with the chit-chat Squall," then suddenly something unexpected happened. A horn blew, a long loud horn. The horn sounded like that of a boat. I couldn't believe it, I was in a boat! Seifer seemed shocked and hung up the phone. His face had turned bright white, almost as though he had seen a ghost. I bumped the guards off me, they were in shock as well. Then I launched myself at the phone, trying to call Squall and tell him that I was on a boat. That is, if Squall hadn't have heard it. Seifer threw me across the room with a lot of force and he and his guards left, slamming the door behind them.  
  
I got back into my corner and tried to find any bruises or proof of what Seifer had done to me. I prayed that Squall had heard the horn, it was vital to finding me. I rubbed my stomach, and quietly told my baby that his or her daddy was coming. Then I looked into my front pockets, there was nothing there. Then I found an inside pocket I hadn't noticed before. I put my hand into it and pulled out a picture. It was a picture of all of us, the entire gang. Squall was trying to look cool and collected, I was hugging him, Selphie was jumping up and down, Zell was punching the air, and Irvine was tipping his hat. I looked harder, where was Quistis? Finally I found her in the back, I could see her bun in between me and Squall's heads. It seemed a little odd to me, but I didn't fret over it. That night I only stared at that picture, intoxicated by the aroma of the jacket, looking into my husband's eyes.  
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Sorry it took so long! But please please please REVIEW and I'll do the same for YOU!  
~Jess~ 


	5. Looking for the Angel

Hey here's the next chapter. PLEASE REVIEW! I'll REVIEW YOU! Reviews make me so happy! Don't you wanna make me happy!? Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy 8, I wish I did but I don't.  
~Jess~  
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"Squall where are you going!?" Quistis yelled after Squall after he had thrown the phone down and burst out of his room. She quickly closed the door behind him and started after him. "What are you doing!?"  
  
"SELPHIE?" Squall screamed through the corridors of the dorm rooms. "SELPHIE GET OUT HERE NOW!" People had started looking outside their doors, watching Squall run and scream down the corridor. Their quiet friend now was now disobeying orders screaming and running down the hallway, and they had no idea why.  
  
Irvine was found outside the library, having a conversation with Zell. Squall raced up to them quickly, and jumped in front of Irvine, even though he was in the middle of a sentence.  
  
"Irvine, tell me where Selphie is, I need to know right away. It's about Rinoa."  
  
"Howdy Squall, I'm not quite sure where Selphie is, she might be out decorating for the Garden Festival Committee."  
  
"Thanks," Squall then took off down the hallway leaving his friends behind, in wonder.   
  
Quistis turned to them, "He heard something on the phone, I don't know what it was. But when the call was broken he just started running screaming for Selphie. His face dropped and everything, you wouldn't think that Selphie could have done some... no, that's too ridiculous."  
  
Irvine looked sternly at her, "Your damn right its ridiculous, Selphie loves Rinoa, she wouldn't do anything like that to her."  
  
"Then why is Squall running around, screaming, looking for her? Seems a little fishy to me," Quistis said fixing her hair, then she continued not to make eye contact with them by then looking at her nails.  
  
Zell looked at her, "You saying that is a little fishy Quisty. Don't go saying stuff like that all right? She is our friend, in case you've forgotten."  
  
Irvine started walking in the direction Squall had just run off to, "Especially when its Selphie." Zell followed him shortly after. They left Quistis standing there with her arms crossed.  
  
From what I could hear, it sounded like Seifer was yelling at his troops to start the boat. How could I not have known I was in a boat? Well, it didn't rock like a lot of boats, so that must have meant it was in a pretty calm area. Seifer knew it now, Squall was gonna find him, and make him pay for what he did. There wouldn't be any more phone calls now, I wouldn't be able to hear my husband's sweet voice until he came for me. I chuckled to myself, how did Seifer expect to run away? Why was he leaving where he was? Squall would find him, I just knew it.   
  
The boat moved and creaked, sending chills up my spine, I heard people bustling about the ship. I crawled back into the corner in the dark, trying to hide myself from the prying eyes of the guards. Whispering to my tummy, I told my baby that its daddy was coming soon, and we would be free at last. Even though we hadn't been there for very long, it felt like an eternity.  
  
"Selphie! There you are, I need to talk to you! Go get the Ragnarok ready! I need you to fly me around the ocean, I'm looking for a boat. Rinoa's probably inside. Come on I need you to do it now!"  
  
Selphie jumped up at the sound of Rinoa's name, "Of course I'll help you Squall! Anything to save Rinoa. I'll go get it prepped, meet me there in a half an hour."  
  
"We want to go too, Squall," Irvine and Zell appeared there, both eager to go with them.  
  
Squall looked over at them, and nodded. "Good you guys, I'll need all the help I can get. We leave soon, bring your best weapons."  
  
Flying over the ocean, they were all eager to find the ship first. Quistis had also come aboard, and seemed to be looking contently off the side of the Ragnarok. Selphie didn't know about what she had said, and neither did Squall, but Zell and Irvine were each keeping an eye on her, for anymore suspicious behavior. Using their radar, they were sure not to miss the ship... which was why it was so weird when the didn't see it after a few hours.   
  
"What the hell!" Squall screamed when the search had been extensive for him to accept. "Where the hell are they!? We've searched almost this entire ocean, and we can't find them! The Deep Sea Research Center has been undisturbed, no suspicious wakes, the ocean is almost completely calm! Where could he have taken her? I know for a fact it was a ship's horn! I can't be wrong!"  
  
They all sat and thought about the situation. There was no evidence, no clues that would point them in my direction. Squall put his head in his hands and sat in a seat by the radar motionless. All was silent on the ship except for the sound of the engine. The ship floated almost as a cloud with no direction, just drifted over the surface of the ocean, the seemingly endless ocean.   
  
Irvine started pacing in the corridor, the silence filled with tension was getting to him. He couldn't stand watching Quistis stand there smugly, pretending to look out the window in despair. Perhaps it was just his imagination, or maybe there was something underneath the surface that he could not see. He felt awkward, even though these people were his good friends. Going through such terrible ordeals as they had brought people closer together. He wanted so desperately help his quiet friend Squall.  
  
Suddenly something clicked in his mind, he snapped his fingers. The sound seemed to echo off the walled silence that had been cast in the room. Squall looked up at him, his face still in his hands, Zell had stopped punching silently at the air, Selphie had looked back, and he had even got the attention of Quistis. Quistis looked at him with one arm crossed in front of her, and the other touching her face.  
  
"What is it Irvine?" Selphie asked, "You think of something?"  
  
"Yea, it would be the explanation of why Squall heard the ship horn."  
  
Squall looked over to him questioningly.   
  
"Well go ahead Irvine tell us!" Zell finally said.  
  
"Well, what if they weren't really on a ship at all?" Irvine started.  
  
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Hehe, kind of a cliffhanger there. Please read and review this story and I'll do the same for you! Thanks for reading, I really appreciate it!!!!  
~Jess~ 


	6. A mischievous friend?

Hey, me again. You know REVIEWs really keep me going. Even if you've reviewed before please do again! I'll EVEN give you an imaginary cookie!  
  
ALSO, I need help writing better summaries for my stories so as people will read them. If you have any ideas please send them!  
~Jess~  
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Irvine paused as if waiting for someone to tell him to continue. He looked to Squall, but Squall was still sitting by the radar, not making eye contact with anyone. Now Angelo had found his way into the bridge and was sitting by Squall. Squall seemed to be mesmerized by the beloved pooch of his lost love and continued to pet it and scratch his ears, looking totally helpless. Selphie suddenly shot a look to Irvine and he cleared his throat.  
  
Irvine then continued his speech, "What if they were not on a ship, but rather on land near where ships dock? A ship could have been pulling out while you were on the phone with Seifer and it blew its horn loud enough to hear. I believe we should start checking ports for any suspicious behavior, who knows we could find something very useful."  
  
Squall looked up and nodded with a small grin, something not usually seen on his face. "Irvine that's a great idea! We're sure to find something! Selphie, go for Balamb, they had to have been there at one time to take Rinoa away!" Squall got up from his chair and went to go stand by Selphie.  
  
Zell was overjoyed by the news, but when he saw Quistis slip out of the room unexpectedly he silently started to follow her. He saw her in the hallway by the phone and picked up the receiver. Zell continued to watch crouched down behind a wall. Then he listened to her conversation.  
  
"Yea it's me Quistis. They've decided to go check Balamb." A pause. "They don't know where to start, but Balamb is a pretty good hunch. But that's all I can say at this time, I must go now." She then hung up the phone.  
  
Zell was perturbed by this phone call and was not going to wait around for any more evidence. He truly believed that Quistis was involved in some evil plot and needed to confront her. He stood up and walked toward Quistis, and stood in her way.  
  
"There a problem Zell?" Quistis said looking down at him. She folded her arms in front of her.  
  
"Quistis, who were you just talking to on the phone just now? I thought I heard your voice." Zell tried to make it seem as though he was not following her, also checking to see if she would lie about being on the phone.   
  
"I was just calling Cid to let him know what was going on. How our journey was progressing. Have any other questions Zell?" She emphasized the other in her question, then strolled away back to the bridge.   
  
Zell looked at her carefully and then walked back himself. Upon his entrance he shot Irvine a look and Irvine nodded and said in jest, "So...What were you two doing out there?"  
  
Looking over at Quistis, Zell awaited the answer she would provide. Would she deny what she had just told to be true, or make up a new riddle for them all to ponder.  
  
"Oh not much," Quistis said covering herself up, "I just had a little business on the phone with Cid, you know to tell him our progress, he asked me to before we left."  
  
Squall looked over at her, "He asked you to? Why would he do that?"  
  
"Well so he can know about any information of course! In case he needs to get in touch with us."  
  
"But he told me to call him," Squall said with a little look of inquiry on his face.  
  
"Well, surely that must mean that he wanted two opinions, I mean, right?"  
  
Selphie broke the silence that was created when she landed the ship. "Come on everybody! Its time to find Rinoa!"  
  
They all descended off the ship and spilt up to find more information. Squall and Zell went to the harbor immediately, Irvine and Selphie went to the Inn, and Quistis, well, no one knows where Quistis went.  
  
There was a man fishing by the harbor, he seemed to be a sailor on the large ship docked at the harbor. At this time of year the sailors would stay for weeks at the same port, catching the sun, and doing quaint little errands for the people of the town.  
  
Zell spoke first, "Excuse me sir? Can I ask you a few questions about a missing person?"  
  
The sailor looked up at him and put down his fishing rod, "Sure, you can ask me anything you want. You guys with the police?"  
  
Squall shook his head, "It's my wife and unborn child that are missing, they were kidnapped 2 weeks ago. Do you remember any suspicious activity?"  
  
"I'm so sorry to hear about your wife, lemme see... Two weeks ago eh? No, I'm sorry there haven't been ships around for a while, none that have left anyway. You know the train has been running constantly, perhaps they got away that way."  
  
Zell asked, "So no suspicious people at all?"  
  
"Well something weird did happen, although I don't think it has anything to do with your wife. I came back from the Inn one day and I saw these two divers come out of the water, it was weird because my friend had never seen them go under. You know how it is though, people fall asleep. It just struck me as odd 'cuz there's really nothing to look at down there."  
  
Squall nodded, "Yea, I do see how that is odd, but your right, I don't think it has anything to do with Rinoa. Perhaps they were marine biologists or something. Thank you very much for your time sir."  
  
"Oh you are very welcome, I hope you find her soon."  
  
Squall then proceeded to walk away, Zell said goodbye to the man and caught up. Sighing, Squall looked at the sky, he had no idea how to find me.  
  
Zell said, trying to get his friend to say anything, "I guess this means we gotta go look at the train station now huh?"  
  
Squall nodded, and then found the others. The others had no news to share with him. Zell's mom had seen nothing, the Innkeepers, the clerk at the store; no one had seen anything. It seemed to Squall for the first time ever, that Balamb had been somewhat quiet with no bad crimes occurring whatsoever.   
  
The group tried to be in high spirits, to get Squall in one as well, but it was hard for him to stop thinking about everything that Seifer could do to his love. How many sadistic ways Seifer could and would hurt a person. They would have to just keep looking, and off they went to Timber.  
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REVIEW PLEASE OH PLEASE!?!   
~Jess~ 


	7. An old friend

Disclaimer: You KNOW I don't own Final Fantasy 8 so don't try...  
Hey, last time I posted it was one o clock in the morning and I only got ONE review! :( this makes me sad.... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!!! If only to say Hey! I don't care! It will tell me that people actually read this!  
~Jess~  
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I woke up that morning, lying on the cold hard floor. I had Squall's jacket pulled around my face and it was clinging to me, trying to keep me warm. The smell of the jacket had been fading before, but now it was completely gone. What a way to start my day... I thought. I sat up. Although the corner was the safest place to be, I needed a change. I got up and walked around, taking in all the markings on the walls. My eyes had been accustomed to the darkness, and now these little markings seemed very visible, which they had not been before.  
  
Finally I decided to rest upon the cot, it had a thin mattress and the springs seemed to poke into me as I rested on it. Every time I made a movement, it would creak like crazy. Suddenly, I heard a voice outside, I pressed myself close to the mattress and tried to not move. The voice was Seifer's and he was pacing back and forth outside my door apparently talking on the telephone with someone. As he paused I slowly started to ease myself off the bed and crawled quietly across the floor toward the door. Pressing my ear to the door, I could make out some of what Seifer was saying.   
  
"So they didn't find anything in Balamb?.... Good. So off to Timber they go. Well, I must say that you covered our tracks pretty well if even Squall Leonhart the oh so powerful one can't find anything. You sure they aren't keeping stuff from you?..... Yea.. Alright, well take care, make it go smoothly." Seifer hung up the phone then and stomped away. I didn't know what was making him so upset, but perhaps it was a good thing. Perhaps I would be taken back into the light very soon.  
  
Later that day, after resting on the painful cot, I found the window in the room. It was small like most windows on ships and the panes were very thick. The window was pitched black, and it upset me. I missed the sun, I missed Squall, and I missed Garden... A wave of homesickness washed over me, I felt the longing grow deeper inside me. The smell of my lover was gone, and it was taking its toll on me emotionally. I just wanted someone, anyone to come in and tell me everything would be alright, or to hold me. I closed my eyes and envisioned Squall to be that person. Although he didn't seem like it, he was always very comforting, something not many people knew about him.   
  
My back started to hurt from standing up too long. I went back over to the cot, I felt as though I couldn't sleep on the floor anymore. The cot wasn't the greatest place to sleep, but its filling kept me warm. Everything was a blur, time went by so slowly. All this wasted time that could have been spent with my husband. Not like this, not in my pregnancy laying on a cot with harsh springs, in a boat that didn't seem to rock, with an ex boyfriend looking for revenge. I curled up into a ball on the mattress and it seemed as though I passed out.  
  
  
As they entered Timber, Squall and the others went to all my old haunts. Finding out very minimal information they began to get discouraged. They had checked the hotel, the pet shop, the old man's house, the bar. Everywhere someone could be in Timber they had checked. While Squall was waiting for the others, he sat on the wall above the trains, silently watching the people scurry to them or away. Squall sighed, this search was going no where fast. But that was until he saw Wedge.  
  
"Wedge!" Squall screamed when he saw him. Quickly Squall bounded up to him.  
  
Wedge looked at him curiously, but replied nicely, "Hey Squall, what's up?"   
  
"A lot, I need some information. Have you seen Rinoa lately?"  
  
"Yea, now look Squall, don't go chasing after her, it was made pretty obvious that she didn't wanna see you."  
  
"What do you mean? Tell me everything you know," Squall said with an evil look on his face.  
  
"Well, she was here with Seifer and Fuijin and Raijin. She seemed pretty upset. Seifer told me that he took her away from you because you had been beating her. That's not the kind of thing I like hearing about Squall, I saw the bruise on her neck."  
  
"He's been hurting her badly?!" Squall yelled at Wedge.  
  
Wedge looked at him curiously and replied, "What do you mean he? You're the one that's been hurting my dear friend Rinoa."  
  
"No, Wedge you have it all wrong. She was taken away from me," Squall held up his ring, "Seifer wants revenge against me, and I dunno why. You hafta help me find Rinoa as soon as you can."  
  
"Well he said that he was taking her out on a cruise."  
  
"Did he say where?"  
  
"No, sorry Squall. But now that you mention it, Rinoa was acting kinda weird. She didn't seem to happy to see me, not like usual."  
  
"They probably drugged her. That's why she didn't know she was on a boat," Squall sighed. This was going nowhere like all his searching was.  
  
"Yea, I would try places on the water."  
  
"Thank you Wedge, I will do that right away. You didn't hear anything from Raijin or Fuijin?"  
  
"Nope, although Fuijin had a black eye. I dunno what happened with that."  
  
Squall's heart sank, Seifer had been hitting his own people. Even people that cared about him as Fuijin had. He left Wedge in peace, then started to look for all his friends to get on the Ragnarok and try somewhere else. All he thought of was all the ifs; If only he had gone with Rinoa to the nurse that day, if only Seifer didn't hate him, if only they did not have their wedding on TV. Anyone of these things could have prevented all this loss and he would still have his love, and his unborn child.  
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Hey, pleaseeeee REVIEW!!!!!!!!  
~Jess~ 


	8. The old storekeeper

Hey, how do you like it? Thanks to Lady Morgaine and Kayah who put me on their favorite authors' lists! :) Thanks!!!!  
~Jess~  
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"Hey, why don't we try the Fisherman's Horizon? I think they would know the most stuff about boat rentals or sightings don't you Squall?" Irvine said to Squall once they got back into the Ragnarok.  
  
Selphie was very excited about this idea. Squall didn't seem to care too much; he seemed so deterred because of his lack of clues. So Selphie said standing up with her hands on her hips, "Well, I'm taking over here for a minute... Yes we are going there, that's a great idea Irvine. I bet Squall thinks so too, but he just doesn't wanna talk."  
  
Squall looked over at Selphie, and then she sat down in the pilot's seat. Squall sighed. She was right, he did think it was a great idea, but he felt so helpless. It was such a big world, and to find someone that was hiding in it was very difficult. It was like finding a precious earring in a crowded train station. When would he find out where to find Seifer? How much more could he take before going crazy in trying to find me?   
  
As they landed on the Horizon, the parties sought out together, some to be the ears and some to be the eyes. They entered this little fishing shop, it seemed to be the best business in town and had a variety of items. Squall looked around the store at all its objects, at the fishing line, goggles, lure, and other things that he couldn't discern. As he looked around half-contently, Selphie bounded up to the storekeeper and asked about recent purchases.   
  
"Well, lemme see. Old Johnny across the way bought a new boat, a little dinghy, has only a one horse powered engine. Old Mrs. Oscul got some lures..."  
  
Squall interrupted him sternly, "Any purchases from anyone you do not know, Sir?"  
  
The storekeeper looked at Squall, and replied, "Actually yes, it was rather odd. A few men came in here and were very interested in scuba gear. When I started telling them the best places to see undersea life, they became very disinterested and tried to change the topic to the price. They also wanted to know about engines for submarines, which I found extremely odd. I only sell boats, not that fancy underwater machines."  
  
Irvine asked, "What did these men look like?"  
  
"Mean. Although I can only remember one of them, the others seemed to just take orders, and I didn't pay too much attention to them. He was tall, very intimidating man, kinda lean, with blonde hair," the storekeeper looked at Squall's face. Squall's eyes flew to the floor, and the storekeeper exclaimed, "He had a scar, on his face just like yours right in between his eyes. Remarkable!"  
  
Zell piped in, "Any idea about which way they went?"  
  
"Well, I know they got a submarine from that old coot down the way, he told me about them buying it. They were very mysterious, maybe they work for some undercover agency, or something secretive."  
  
As they parted the old man, Squall gave the storekeeper a grin; he couldn't put out the whole smile until he found his love. They had decided to rent a submarine and search for Seifer under the sea. Selphie seemed pretty confident that she knew how to drive it, although Zell looked pretty scared. As they were all gathering for their journey, Squall noticed Quistis go to the phone. He listened in and when he heard her call the other voice Seifer his face dropped. Quickly, Squall motioned to the others to get into the boat without Quistis, and Squall got no complaints.  
  
Selphie turned on the engine, catching Quistis' attention. Hanging up the phone, Quistis began to race to the submarine. Zell shut the hatch after he gave her an unhappy smirk. They started going out to see, watching Quistis' expressions; she knew what she did wrong. Betrayal was not something Squall could handle in the search for his love.  
  
Squall sat in a corner of the boat motionless for a long time. He had been betrayed by one of his close friends. Quistis, who had once carried a crush for him. Did this crush force her to take to drastic measures to separate Squall from me? Or was it something different? Squall shook his head in disgust at the thought of Quistis. All the actions they had took to find me, Quistis had been there unraveling it to the enemy.  
  
After a long while of silence, Irvine spoke, twiddling his thumbs, "How could someone do something like that? It just makes me so mad at her. She seems so weak to me now, when before she was a powerful instructor."  
  
Zell sighed, "We should have told you about what she said about Selphie. That bitch Quistis accused Selphie of helping out Seifer, when it was her the entire time!" He punched at the wall of the submarine; the impact reverberated off the walls and shook the submarine.  
  
Irvine looked at Zell, "Please don't do that, it scares me. I feel like this is all my fault."  
  
Squall looked up from his long gaze at the floor, "It's not any of our faults. All of this, it is not even Quistis' fault. It's all Seifer's fault. Without his revenge for me, none of this would have happened. Rinoa and I could have just lived together peacefully with our baby and not had to worry about any of this. All this happened because I had a class, and I didn't take it off to be with her," he paused, sighing. "I would still be with her now, but instead all this time is lost!"  
  
With that statement, all of the companions kept quiet, searching the ocean for their lost companion.  
  
As I woke up from my slumber of I don't know how many hours, I saw a light coming from a place it had not the day before. I rolled off the cot and placed my feet on the ground, leaning against the wall looking out the window. For some reason, it seemed a bit brighter in my prison. Getting lost in thoughts, something pulled me from my deep gaze. Something small, yet it was very significant. It seemed to rip my one last hope of Squall finding me. I touched my fingers to the glass, that before had seemed to me to be painted but now I was aware of what was really going on. I slumped down back to the cold floor and cried into my arms.  
  
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Notice the regression in Rinoa? When she thought Squall was coming for her she slept on the bed, now that she thinks he isn't, she is back on the floor. Also kinda of a cliffhanger here. I decided to make the story go a little faster, the search was not getting many reviews and I wanna finish this story!!  
REVIEW!  
~Jess~ 


	9. Finding the ship

Hey you know I don't own them! I tend to forget to write this oopsie!  
~Jess~  
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I woke up that morning, or night, I knew not which since the window had filled with darkness. We could easily be deep under the blue sea or it could be night. I pulled my head up from my arms that were damp from my tears. Imagining the thing I saw out of the window, I choked back a sob. It had been a fish, although not brightly colored, was truly a fish. I was underwater. Now feeling that Squall had been looking for me above water where I could not be seen. The fish was a symbol for my struggle to be free and now I knew I would not be.   
  
I took out Squall's picture, folded slightly from being in his pocket for so long. We had such happy faces and the world was in our reach. Now I wondered what faces shone on the bodies of my missed friends. I couldn't see Quistis' face, and I felt disheartened. She had been a close friend of mine and although I remembered her face perfectly, I still wanted to see it. Clutching the picture close to me, I ran my finger over Squall's face, getting lost in his eyes, and was taken aback from my daze by a large pounding sound. I heard Seifer yelling and I crawled across the floor to see what the racket was about. Seifer's voice sounded faint, so I pressed myself up against the door but could only make out a few things.  
  
"They ditched you!?" He shouted emphasizing the word ditched, "How could you let that happen! You were supposed to be the in person! What am I going to do now?" I heard him walk down the hall after that, stomping his feet along the way.  
  
I froze against the door, repeating the words in my head. There had been someone against my friends trying to stop them from finding me. Someone, trying to stop Squall from finding me. I looked at the picture that I was holding next to my heart deep in my chest and I knew that one of those faces had betrayed me and it pained me.   
  
I noticed that the submarine had begun to go faster, they must have had a new direction to take me further away from Squall. I clutched my knees and said aloud to myself, "Please, please let my love find me before something horrible happens."  
  
  
"Are we getting closer?" Squall asked Selphie, as he was pacing in the small submarine even though there was not much room. Whenever he got to a side he would have to tilt his head slightly, this was obviously becoming very irritating to him, but he did not stop. He needed to be moving, the small interior and situation made him nervous.  
  
Selphie nodded and pointed to the radar screen that had a single green dot in the midst of it, it had to be Seifer's submarine since there was no other little dots to be found. Squall finally stopped pacing and sat down next to it, intently watching the little green dot and listening for the sound it would make upon coming to it.  
  
Zell seemed very content looking out the submarine window, pointing to all the fish that would swim by. Once getting very excited about having seen a shark. It wasn't a large shark at all, but it still had Zell jumping up and down and pulling the others to its presence. Irvine had been playing solitaire with a pack of cards that no one remembered him buying. Whenever Zell would jump up at the sight of an exotic fish, Irvine would feign interest then become enthralled in the cards.  
  
Hours later, they had the green mark in their crosshairs. Squall seeing this jumped up and looked about the window having pushed Zell out of the way. Frantically, he looked about the dark ocean then exclaimed, "Where the hell are they!? Aren't they supposed to be right here?"  
  
Selphie looked at him, "Why, yes, they are, this is really strange."  
  
Squall murmured, "Where the hell are you Seifer? Come out so I can find you."  
  
  
For the past couple of hours, it had become seemingly brighter in my prison. The ocean had become brighter and the submarine had slowed down a bit. I got up to look out the window when the submarine stopped. The quick stop had made me stumble and when I returned to the window I noticed that it had surfaced. I saw a pier and started pounding on the glass, trying to grab anyone's attention from the surface.   
  
I saw Seifer on the pier, he was speaking with someone. I started pounding harder only to find that it didn't make as loud a noise as I wanted. Suddenly, I ran over to the door of my cell and rammed my shoulder into it. It started stinging and my heart sank when I felt the submarine slowly begin to move again. Sighing heavily, I knew it was a lost hope that I would be rescued by anyone not searching for me. I walked back over to the corner of the room and sat down, rubbing my shoulder gently. It had been a foolish idea.  
  
Suddenly, I heard a lot of commotion. Everyone was racing about the large ship, all the feet pounding against the cold metal of the floor. I heard Seifer's voice above the racket screaming orders at all his underlings. I pressed my face against the window of the door, trying to see anything I could. All I saw were sirens flashing the color red. My mind began to race. Thinking wild thoughts like was there something wrong with the ship? Has someone found me? I jumped back over to the other side of the room, looking out the portal to the outside world. I scanned the ship from as far as I could see, desperately hoping not to see a large hole or torpedo coming in the vicinity.   
  
After my overlook was to my satisfaction, I went over to the window of the door again. I looked over the creatures as they went by, they were still dressed casually, not in clothes that would prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the deep ocean. Long after, I sat down back in the corner, hugging my knees, praying that we were not sinking, praying that I would be saved.   
  
Bringing me from my hopeful daze, I heard a pounding at the door.  
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I think I'm actually beginning to like these cliffhangers! Sorry... but I think it makes for a good story. You know sometimes I wonder if anyone is actually looking for my next chapter, let me know if you really do. It would really make me happy! :) Sorry for the long wait, but please review!!!  
~Jess~ 


	10. Mysterious reunion

Hehe. Well now I expect reviews for this fact... I'm now 18!! My birthday was on Saturday! Happy Birthday to me!! Thanks for putting me on your favorites list RoMayDrako!!! It was like a birthday present to me!  
~Jess~  
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"There they are!" Selphie screamed as she saw the submarine pass over their heads.  
  
Squall jumped up from the floor of the ship and looked up at the large submarine. "Follow them," he ordered Selphie.  
  
Selphie jumped into the pilot's chair and said, "Aye, aye."  
  
Irvine had lost interest in his fantastic solitaire game and began thinking aloud of ways to save me. Zell had placed himself across from Irvine on the floor and took part in the brainstorm. They had created elementary drawings on little pieces of paper of each of the submarines and how they might be able to get aboard Seifer's ship.   
  
After what seemed like hours of arbitrary ideas Squall finally interrupted them, "I will go aboard when they surface, or at least try to get on the ship. Then I want the rest of you to follow me, proceed with stealth. We need to succeed in this mission for we are all caught in the balance. They will have to surface sometime for supplies, we'll have to wait for that time to strike."   
  
Irvine prepared the scuba gear, in case it would be needed unexpectedly also preparing the first aid kit, and a life raft. All the while Seifer's ship was fleeing the chase, having been discovered and the cover of the large dark sea was blown. Therefore, Squall and his party gave chase hopefully pushing Seifer and his crew to make a mistake in their hurried escape.   
  
The sea started getting brighter as Seifer made his way towards shore. Squall traced the scar on his face, impatiently waiting for the fight that would take place. Squall looked over at Zell practicing his fighting laboriously, and his eyes softened. He relaxed a little at realizing that these people around him were his friends, and they were doing all this for him because they were his companions and wanted to help. They were spending all of their time and energy to help him find his love. Then he started looking at his other friends, Selphie was humming to herself, Irvine was pretending to be preoccupied by their gear. Sighing, Squall began to stare out the window at the fleeing ship carrying his love.  
  
  
I looked at the door curiously, had someone just knocked? I got up and stayed close to the wall in the cover of darkness. I thought to myself, why would someone knock on a cell that was locked from the outside? I got next to the door and peeked out and I saw the hallway emptied. I shook my head and went to sit back down thinking myself crazy, when I heard the door open and I turned around to my surprise to see Quistis standing in the doorway.   
  
"Come on Rinoa! Quick before Seifer finds us!" She yelled to me.  
  
I rushed over to her and we slipped out of my cell. It was such a relief to be out of the prison. I thought that her being a stowaway on the ship was why the lights were pulsating, hurting my eyes as I blinded followed Quistis. She moved fast through the ship and I could hardly hear her shoes tapping on the floor. My footsteps seemed so heavy compared to hers, although it was hard to keep up since I had been carrying extra weight and had not been accustomed to running with it. Thinking about Squall's handsome face I believed that Quistis must have had an escape pod to get off the ship and back into the arms of my husband.   
  
Suddenly, Quistis stopped jogging throwing her arm out to halt me as well. We had encountered our first guard patrolling another wing of the ship. He seemed to be moving excruciatingly slow, almost dawdling back and forth. While his back was turned we dashed across the hallway and continued our escape. I smiled, it seemed almost too easy, thinking that soon I would be back in my husband's arms safe and happy.  
  
Quistis turned into a room, and upon entering I found it to be completely dark. I put out my arms and tried to feel around to where Quistis was, and in doing so, I smashed my hand into the wall. Holding in my pain, I brought my hand to my lips and blew on it, when I found that didn't work I started shaking it furiously. I heard shifting, and moved toward it, Quistis must have been getting lost in the dark too.   
  
Finally, my hand had found cloth, I started tugging on it and waited for a response. When I didn't hear any, I squinted my eyes; I could only make out something white, or perhaps gray. I moved my hand up the fabric, it felt a little odd to me. Suddenly, I felt something weird inside me, near my stomach. I put my free hand on my stomach and felt the sensation again. A smile crept across my face, I realized it was our baby shifting or kicking. Giggling to myself I began to realize how I was really pregnant, it not having hit me until that point. It seemed a little odd to me though, a new feeling, a new life. I also realized that it was too early for my baby to be doing any of these sensations, but now was not the time to think about it.   
  
I stood in a daze for a while pressing my hand against my stomach, until the touch of the fabric I was holding in my hand brought me back to my mission at hand. I ran my hand up the fabric until I found what I thought to be skin. In the tiniest voice I could muster I asked, "Quistis?" But I did not find a response. I placed my hand onto the skin again, and thought how tall Quistis seemed. Must be standing on a step, I pondered.   
  
As a flash, the lights were thrown and I blinked my eyes for a minute before I could see the person in front of me. I had been standing there with my hand on the person's face. Upon seeing this person I jumped back, quickly retracting my hand, and said aloud the name of the person standing there.  
  
"Seifer..."  
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I'm sooo sorry for another cliffhanger, seriously. But I'll tell you how this keeps happening: I always try to push myself to write at least 1,000 words, and whenever I get around there and all thought out, it ends with a cliffhanger. My thoughts are all cliffhangers! I'm REALLY sorry! But please review anyway!! Hey at least I didn't leave out his name right!?!   
~Jess~ 


	11. The new prison

Hey! Back again with more ideas, and I will try to write more than 1000 words, although I hope it doesn't take longer! If I can't think of anything else I'll send it, so that you guys will keep reading! Happy Thanksgiving everyone, hope you had a good one!  
~Jess~  
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Upon stepping away from Seifer, I bumped into Quistis who was standing behind me. Once I did, my hand sought her whip. Quistis slapped my hand away and a smirk donned her lips.  
  
I shook my head and asked, "Quistis, if that whip is not for Seifer than who is it for?"  
  
Quistis grinned at me, "Why Rinoa, it would be for you."  
  
I gasped at thought of Quistis betraying me. I couldn't begin to understand it and I began to close my eyes and pinch my arm; I had to have been dreaming, this couldn't really be happening. When my eyes were thrown open again, Seifer was carrying me to my new prison and placed me on the solid platform. The metal of the prison was cold on my bare legs, and Seifer didn't offer any comfort. He placed metal cuffs on my arms and legs, strapping me to the metal cot, in the middle of the circular room. The jacket protected my wrists from the cold of the cuffs, but my legs had no defense. Quistis pulled up a long, gray rectangular box and pushed one of the two buttons on it, and my keep moved vertically; standing me up in the room I could only guess was for torture.  
  
My voice had found its way out of my mouth shakily, "Why are you doing this to me!?"  
  
My question was left unanswered and they seemed enthralled in all the gadgets and radar surrounding the room. After some time, I saw Quistis go over to Seifer and wrap her arms around his waist as he pressed some of the buttons at the control panel. He then pulled his arm around her waist and used the free hand to access the controls. My heart laid down in my chest, Quistis had only been pretending to be my friend the entire time I knew her, or perhaps Seifer had enticed her to help in his sinister plans because of her lost love for Squall.  
  
I started to remember the day that Seifer was jailed. It had been after the defeat of Ultimecia, and Seifer was put on trial. He sneered at the judge and at all the jurors, and was overall cocky to everyone that spoke to him. Rolling his eyes at everything, he sat with his arm crossed and leaned back in his chair. He didn't look like the type that would feel guilt for any of his sins.   
  
Squall was called to the stand, he sat there nervously I remembered. He fumbled around with his ring and was continually tapping his foot upon the wood of the small cube. Answering every question articulately and thoughtfully, the responses he gave were nothing Seifer wanted him to say. All the evidence against Seifer for treason were more than enough to condemn him, Squall's testimony had not had as much hold on the jurors as Seifer believed. Obsessively, it seemed Seifer still had the thought that Squall had been the one to convict him, and that could be the reason I was here now.  
  
I remembered waiting outside impatiently of the courtroom with all my friends for the verdict. Squall was feeling guilty for the things he had said on the stand, but he knew that the truth had to have been said. I had put my head on his shoulder and my arm circling him, and that is when I remember looking up at Quistis. She seemed very distraught, and her eyes looked glassy as though she had been or soon would be crying. I had always known that Seifer and Quistis had feelings for each other and dismissed it as such. Little did I know that Quistis cared about him so much, she would go against everything that she believed in to help Seifer with his schemes.   
  
After the verdict was delivered, we all went back to our dorm rooms melancholy. Almost all of us walked back slowly, our heads hanging down in sorrow. We had all liked Seifer, and to us his crimes did not seem to be exceedingly heinous, but we were not the jury. They were not heinous because he was being controlled by Edea to attack the Garden and all the things he had done. The jury could be blamed for all that had happened to Seifer in jail, not his friends that cared about him, whether or not we tended to show it. I remembered Quistis walking unusually fast down the hall to her dorm, almost in a jog, she had one of her hands up by her face and did not speak to any one of us that night, or the following week. Even on the next day, which was the day of sentencing, did she speak to us, but she wore dark black clothing as if she were at a funeral.  
  
She had taken the news harder than the rest of us, but we did not see the signs that were so clear now. Seifer and her last night together before his imprisonment, they must have made a pact to each other, to get back at the Garden, or so I believed. I know that in the same situation I would have done the same, but not to the extremes this couple decided on. Ransoming off the commander's girlfriend that they thought had convicted Seifer for the principal of the Garden was not something I would ever consider. I wanted to get them to understand how it was not any of our faults that Seifer had been put in jail, but the evidence against him.   
  
Finally after some consideration about whether I should try to speak to them the words came out almost unexpectedly, "Seifer, Quistis, please listen to me, I want to know why you are doing this so please answer my question. Did you think of this because you believed that Squall and Garden wanted you in jail? That wasn't the case..."   
  
I was interrupted when Quistis let go of her hold on Seifer's waist and walked over to me nonchalantly while I was making my statement. Quickly she slapped me with full force, throwing my head to the side. Then she spoke with much confidence, "Don't speak, I wouldn't want to have to punish you Rinoa." Then she placed her hand on her whip, trying to demonstrate her dominance over me.  
  
Seifer had turned around to watch the show, and seemed mighty pleased with Quistis' performance. Prancing over to me, Seifer took a look at Quistis' handy work, with a huge grin on his face. I could gather from his reactions that my face had a large red handprint that had to have been looking pretty bad.   
  
Soon thereafter they had left the room. I had felt horrible, I wanted to cry my eyes out, but I did not let my tears drop. I would not let my captors see me cry because of the things they had done to me. I tried shifting my arms and weight, but it was no use, the cuffs and metal were too much for me to move myself. So I laid there looking up at the ceiling until I passed off into a peaceful slumber.  
  
  
Later that day, Irvine said aloud thoughtfully, "Well, I guess there were signs of Quistis turning rotten. I mean remember your wedding? She had gotten herself so intoxicated she couldn't walk back to her dorm. Remember Zell? You had to lug her all the way back in the middle of the reception!" They all had a chuckle remembering Quistis staggering about the hall, except Squall, who just looked up at them.  
  
Selphie began talking about an event that none of them had ever heard from her, "One time I found her in her room crying her eyes out for some weird reason. She told me that she had gotten an email from someone asking her to do something. Apparently she didn't want to do it, but when I asked to see the email she shut off the computer and pretended everything was fine. Telling me that she was overreacting, and then we went off to the cafeteria and got some food. Come to think of it, she never mentioned it again or who sent it."  
  
Squall said quietly, "It must have been Seifer."  
  
Zell inquired, "Was it before the wedding?"  
  
Selphie replied, "Yea, I believe so, but what would that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Because that may have been why she was getting smashed. She was feeling guilty about being there on their special day while plotting evil against them. There may be good in her yet." Squall finished.  
  
Irvine said jokingly, "This has got me all confused. I still don't understand why Seifer would want to do it anyway."  
  
They all agreed on that thought, Seifer was just digging more of a hole for himself after his treason and now this crime of ransom. Squall put his hand on his head and they all went silent for they thought that Squall was going to get upset; angry or tearful or some combination. Then they silently continued to follow Seifer into the night.  
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Whoo! 1612 words! Go me! ::shakes her hands off from typing:: Actually no, typing's not the problem it's the thinking ::puts her hand on her head:: Well, another chapter finished. Please review!!!  
~Jess~ 


	12. A Black Cloud

YAY! I got a new computer and I finally figured out how I am going to be able to write my fanfics! It only took me about 2 days ::laughs::. Sorry its been a while since I updated but that's what has been going on!  
~Jess~  
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While I was sleeping I had a terrible dream that stirred me from my sleep. I was meandering in an open field when a little boy came up to me, he was running away from a huge explosion that had occurred behind him. The boy had strikingly beautiful blue eyes that swam in the storm of his pupils and hair that looked like midnight. He grabbed my hand and turned me away from the wreckage of the explosion, that I could only guess was a city from the rumbling that was heard all around the plains I had been trudging through.   
  
The boy only muttered a few things to me, and although I couldn't understand him the message was clear; we both had to flee from whatever force was following. Although quite young, the child leading me ran incredibly fast, almost dragging me into the woods away from the openness of the plains. We both crouched behind a fallen log, and our eyes scanned the plains for the stalker.   
  
Suddenly, a white force flew about the plains and threw the log, knocking over the boy and myself onto the ground. Instinctively, I threw myself on top of the boy, trying to cover him from the evil force pursuing us. Quickly, I turned my gaze to the entity, and a strange bright white light pierced my eyes.   
  
Before my eyes could focus in my dream, my eyelids had won the battle and had thrown themselves open, while my lungs were gasping for air. I tried to sit myself up to be calm, but I was reminded of my cuffs when they would not let me move my body that was wracked with fear. Raijin was standing over me, and I let out an ear piercing scream for the fright his presence had stirred in me, still fearing my dream. I took a deep breath then looked at Raijin and sighed almost in complete relief from being saved.  
  
Raijin had jumped back from my loud screech and took a long look at me, while trying to regain his breath. He inched back a little closer and when he noticed that I would not scream any more, he started to feed me without speaking any words to me. He fed me some kind of gruel one would only serve to the most wretched of prisoners. For a moment, I took in all the food I could for I was growing weary and needed all my strength. I decided this was the perfect opportunity to trick him, or persuade him to tell me about what was going on. He had never been too bright, always following Seifer and Fujin's orders, so perhaps it would not be too hard to persuade him to let me in on the secret.   
  
I used my eyes to plead with his before I spoke, "Why am I all tied up now, but I wasn't before?" Raijin looked at me, but did not respond. He seemed overly interested on his task at hand. I began to squirm like a baby does when not wanting to eat anymore, trying to distract him from his mission so he could answer my question. "I'm awfully uncomfortable here. I just wanna know why I was put on this cold metal bed when I could be in that dark little cell, just a little more comfy than right now."  
  
Raijin stared into my pleading eyes, and he weighed each word in his mind before he spoke. I had never seen him so focused before he said the words, "So we could get at you more easily when the time comes." Then he shut his mouth and took the tray containing the food he had been feeding me and left me there.  
  
I closed my eyes and thought about the words he had said, and one question popped into my mind; when what time comes? My thoughts were racing with all the horrible things they could do to me in the submissive state I was in. I sighed heavily, taking in a lot of the stale air around me. I knew at that point that I would have to fight back, that I needed to free myself and my child from the evil clutches of the maniacal Seifer.  
  
  
Squall looked out the window and had noticed the change in the color of the surface for in their long chase it had gotten a little brighter. Deciding not to dwell on it, he looked over at his crew. All of his friends were exhausted for the chase was longer than they had all anticipated. He noted that Selphie had begun to play tic tac toe, a seemingly mindless game, into a full out war with Irvine. Squall cocked an eyebrow at Selphie when she jumped up and started dancing from her triumph over the cowboy. Zell who was watching over the tiny battle, chuckled at the victory after receiving a vindictive stare from Irvine that he should cut it out. Zell changed his chuckle into a full blown cackle, much to Irvine's despise.   
  
The whole scene was humorous but Squall found no joy in it. He found himself brushing his hand across the smoothness of his sleek gunblade. He had polished it earlier, and found his reflection in it. The image that he saw seemed so different than the boy who had once looked into its reflection. He had not always carried the worries that he bore now; now that his wife and child were torn away from him.   
  
Soon after the display of hope on the submarine, Squall decided to take his rest for the night, while the others would keep watch on the ship. Curling up into a little ball for warmth in the corner with a rolled up blanket for a pillow, Squall attempted to go to sleep. Memories and fears arose in his mind, and when he fell asleep it was only light, for he tossed and turned trying to find a way through the invisible barrier keeping him from his sleep.  
  
  
Hours after talking with Raijin and being left alone, I felt somehow tranquil. I could hear the propellers of the submarine whirring and it put me in a dreamlike state. Although I was not totally asleep, for I was conscious of everything all around me, I was beginning to have something like a hallucination. Hallucinations of being on a beach making sand castles with my child, and being picked up and thrown into the water by a overjoyed Squall. When I found myself back in the room, I began to feel so sad. All by myself in that little room for such a long while was not a healthy thing for me.   
  
Suddenly I was taken from my delusional state for Seifer and Quistis had returned. They began pushing a lot of buttons and having a conversation about mindless banter, like shipmates or noise of the ship. One of the buttons they pressed started beeping frantically, and once the sound had commenced, Quistis looked at Seifer and kissed him on the cheek. Seifer then broke away from her and walked over to me and said, "It begins now."  
  
  
"Oh Irvine you are so funny!" Selphie was saying to Irvine after he had made a funny face at her, it was all they could do to keep from going crazy in the small confines of the ship.  
  
Irvine smiled at her, until she tousled his hat off of his head and it went flying into the window of the ship. Shaking his head he went to retrieve it, and then his face dropped. He asked her in the most serious fashion after all that had just happened, "Selphie, what is that black smoke coming out of the ship?"  
  
Selphie lightly slapped his arm, "Oh hush Irvine do you really think I'd fall for that?!"  
  
"No Selphie, just look," Irvine said assertively then started looking at all the radar around him, although he was not certain on how to read any of the coordinates.   
  
Zell decided to get in on the fun of teasing Selphie as well, "Oh my, Selphie look hurry! Its coming for you!" Zell then landed on his back in hysterics. Watching Selphie's face as she got more infuriated with the both of them for picking on her gave Zell a good chuckle.  
  
Irvine got up from the controls and walked over to the worried Squall, "Come on Squall get up. There's some black smoke coming out of the submarine, we really need to figure out what is going on."  
  
Selphie then looked out the window, for she thought that Irvine was very serious now upon awakening the leader. Then she gasped in utter shock, "There actually is black smoke! Damnit!" Furiously typing away at the computer screens she tried to figure out what the problem was with the opposing ship.  
  
Squall jumped up and ran to the window, half asleep still, and he gasped at the sight. "Are they leaking oil or fuel Selphie? Have they been hit?!" Screaming louder and louder, he kept on inquiring about the failure of the other ship, anything that could possibly be wrong with a ship was asked of by Squall.  
  
Concluding that there was nothing wrong with the ship, they continued their analysis anyway. They would not give up on the fate of the two lives that were hanging in the balance of this mystery. They continued their research for many hours at the small computer screens until their eyes would not focus on them anymore. Squall decided to keep watch on the other submarine, while the others all fell asleep, Selphie in the pilot's chair, Irvine on the floor by the window, and Zell in the spot that Squall had once occupied.   
  
When the time came to switch roles, Squall didn't have the heart to wake them up, so he continued his watch throughout the night on a tiny little ship, carrying the biggest things in his life.  
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Again, I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LACK OF UPDATING! New computer and all. I saw Lord of the Rings, THE FIRST DAY IT CAME OUT, so I was inspired to write more quickly. Please review, again I apologize!  
~Jess~ 


	13. The dam is broken

Hey again! Merry Christmas to everyone and Happy Holidays! Thankie Frost for putting me on your favorite author's list! I just hope that when I post it people will be able to read it, since they are going through "changes" or whatnot!  
~Jess~  
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Seifer and Quistis had begun gathering materials from about the room and putting them into large bags. I looked at the swollen bags and hoped that the ship wasn't going to self-destruct. Seifer and Quistis seemed pretty enthusiastic about the happenings, hurriedly jogging about the room. I pulled at the cuffs bearing me to the platform, but they would not budge. I began to wish I still had strong sorceress powers, perhaps then I may have been able to free myself, or at least take out my captors.   
  
Suddenly, I heard a knock at the door, and I watched Raijin let himself into the confines of the room. Upon entering, Seifer and Quistis greeted him as they were leaving the room. As they left, they placed a pair of shackles and a blindfold on top of one of the computers that I could only guess was for me. Raijin came over to me and began to free my legs from the cuffs, then he progressed to my right arm. His eyes were focused upon my left cuff as he began to liberate me. The left arm cuff started to give him a bit of trouble, so he began to lean over me. I decided this may be my chance to do something about the situation. I moved my head a little closer to the left arm cuff where Raijin had averted his eyes. Then I bit down on his hand as hard as I could.   
  
Raijin shrieked and jumped back from me, as my teeth gnawed away at his flesh. I quickly released myself from my bindings and leaped off the table, running towards the door. I heard Raijin quickly follow after me. As I threw the door open and stepped out into the hallway I felt two strong hands grab my arms and drag me back into the chamber. There had been two guards standing outside the room the entire time, waiting for an attempted escape to foil. I felt aggravated as I felt hands put the handcuffs on my wrists behind my back, and as a black night covered my sight.   
  
I began kicking when I felt them begin to carry me, I had become thoroughly scared of the torture that would be soon to come. They had carried me over a long distance and then placed me down and forced me to walk by continuously pushing me ahead. I began to feel a slight breeze I thought, but dismissed it as a trick created by my mind. One of the guards grabbed my arm and put it on a railing, and murmured to watch my step down the stairs. My mind raced at all the possible places they could be taking me, and hoped that they were not worse than the last.   
  
  
Squall woke Selphie up at a decent time, so that he could get some sleep from his long watch. Selphie pretended to be angry with Squall for not waking her up sooner, but gave him a reassuring smile when he took her position in the pilot's chair. The black smoke hadn't disappeared yet, and it made it very hard for them to see the other submarine. Selphie was bored with keeping watch so strictly and started tapping her fingers roughly on the computer monitors. At one point she even started playing solitaire, and when it got too much to bear she decided to wake Irvine up and would try to make it look like an accident.   
  
"Oops," Selphie said as she dropped a card on the floor and it went skittering across the floor over towards Irvine's sleeping form. She got up and placed heavy footfalls on her way over to the card. Bending over to pick it up, the rest of the cards slipped from her slippery fingers and all landed on Irvine's head. His eyes opened and looked around at the cards scattered everywhere and up at Selphie picking up the lone one on the floor. Selphie giggled at the half-asleep man and started picking up the cards, being sure to be clumsy by poking him so that he could not drift back off to sleep. Finally, Irvine sighed and sat up and started to help Selphie with the collection of the cards.   
  
Later, after Selphie and Irvine had settled themselves in the front of the ship again, Irvine said a stupid joke and they both became quiet. Irvine sighed and looked to the smoke, it seemed to cover everything they looked at and was mighty disheartening. The darkness enveloped everything, and seemed to be engulfing the crew as well, for now they slept longer and ate less food. Irvine looked into the smoke and could not see the ship, or even the outline. Nobody had been able to see the ship since the smoke first arrived, but Irvine decided to question it. There had been nothing else to do in the ship besides punch bags, play cards, or watch the submarine, so he decided to capitalize on their boredom.   
  
"Selphie, where is the ship? Which little dot is it on the radar?"   
  
Selphie looked over to one of the radar screens thoughtfully, "Well Irvy, I don't see anything, but maybe its just a glitch from all this smoke."  
  
"Well Selphie," Irvine turned to her, mimicking her, "I think we would all feel better if we knew where the ship was. I mean, what if we aren't following it anymore and were drifting further away from them?"  
  
Selphie looked to him and asked, "Why don't you wake up Squall? Now that you got me feeling all worried."  
  
Irvine turned himself on his haunches, where he had been sitting in between the two chairs, turning to Squall to wake him up by lightly shaking his arm. Squall's eyes opened quickly and he sat up looking at the two of them expectantly. Irvine looked to Selphie and tipped his head in Squall's direction, signaling to her to tell Squall what was going on.  
  
Selphie shot Irvine a dissatisfied look, and then began saying to Squall, "Well, we haven't seen the submarine in a while, and were beginning to worry about it."  
  
Squall blinked at her question and said, "Yes, it has been a issue in my mind also, I believe that we need to just wait, for there is nothing else we can do."  
  
Hours later, Zell had awoken and they all became quite bored with all they had around them. Selphie began to tap again until Squall looked at her, she then dropped her hand down. Silence had befallen them once more.   
  
Later, Zell while looking into the smoke, stood up from his position on the floor. His finger pointed steadily out the window at something very small. Selphie looked at the radar in the position of the object and said excitedly, "I think it may be our lost ship." Then she grasped the wheel of the submarine and drove fast into the direction of the object, praying it would be the correct ship.  
  
They all sighed in relief when they saw the markings of Seifer on the ship, and began pursuit again. The ship began to smoke again and Zell tugged at Selphie's shoulder and asked, "Selphie, why don't you stay a little bit back, just a ways, so we can see the ship and not lose it again."  
  
Selphie nodded and slowed the ship down to a slower knot. They followed the ship for an hour until something unexpected happened. Pieces, pieces of the escaping ship flew everywhere. It had been hit by something, or something in the ship had not been situated correctly. It had exploded, right before their watching eyes. Selphie had shielded her eyes when the blast occurred, Zell backed up a bit, Irvine hung his head low, while Squall stared at the wreckage of the ship. Tears began to roll down Squall's face, springing from the dam in his heart. Squall did not take his eyes off the wreckage, even after Selphie had begun to steer the ship away, just so they could begin to regroup and figure out what had just occurred before them. Once out of sight, Squall leaned against the wall of the ship and slid down it, coming to rest at the bottom, then he put his head in his hands once more.   
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Well, another chapter done. What do you think caused the explosion? REVIEW, pweese? I recommend strongly everyone should go see LotR, because I am becoming quite a big dork of it! Sorry is not a long chapter but its 1475 words!  
~Jess~ 


	14. Another phone call

Thank you Seth soldier for putting me on your favorite author's list! Joy and rapture!!!! I am so happy lots of you like my story and follow it! OH YEA! I got accepted into the University of Southern Maine, even though its not my top choice, its still nice to know I can actually go to college. I'm still waiting for the rest of my applications to be accepted!   
~Jess~  
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A week or so later, Squall and the others had returned to Garden, to lament and come up with another strategy. Squall wouldn't believe that the submarine would cause the death of me or by any other rate the deaths of Seifer and his devious crew. They were sitting in the office with Cid, trying to come up with some kind of team that could check the shipwreck for any signs of the missing people. Squall wanted to continue searching the ocean for the submarine, but it was concluded that due to their satellites and radar that there was no unidentified submarine floating around as it pleased.   
  
Their meeting was adjourned inconclusive, Cid had had other things to attend to and asked them all to leave and brainstorm what should be done. Squall had been the last to leave, and silently stared at Cid as he had to take a phone call. Then he slowly rose and made his way to the door, as he turned the doorknob, he looked again one last time at Cid. Sorrowfully getting no response from Cid, he left the office, and walked slowly back to his dorm full of thought.  
  
Squall laid down on the bed, that had been crafted for two. He felt small compared to the huge size of the bed, since it had once been fully occupied. He placed his hand over to the side of the bed that had been mine, the outside since our bed was placed against a wall. He kept his right arm on the other side, and his left hand rose to his eyes and covered them, rubbing his temples. Squall tried to fill the empty space on the bed by spreading out on his back, with little light coming into the room through the shades. Slowly, the shades of the room made quiet rhythmic noises as they beat against the side of the window; lulling Squall into a light sleep.   
  
Squall was awoken by a loud knocking on his door. He pulled himself out of his soft slumber and dragged himself to the door, half-knowing that it was Zell on the other side with nothing of any importance to say. He slowly unlocked the door, and reached for the doorknob below it, when Zell took it upon himself to let himself into the room. Zell looked around the room and Squall resumed a seat on the large bed, and Zell took to sitting in one of the lone chairs in the room; the one at the computer desk.   
  
"So Squall, how's everything been hanging?" Zell asked in a tone that never seemed to leave his character, no matter how much everyone wished it would sometimes.  
  
Squall turned on the TV, it was one of the joys of having such a large room. He started flipping the channels from his remote control that was always on the bed, it was easy access for anyone who wanted to use it. Only Squall and I ever used it, because Squall wouldn't let anyone else turn on the TV to look for anything silly. One time, he caught Zell in his room watching a TV commercial for a video about kickboxing. Zell was thrown off the bed, because Squall didn't like anyone on his bed that shouldn't be there. He treated it almost like anyone else on his bed would cause contamination.   
  
Zell clicked his tongue at the silent response and began looking around the room. He stopped his rapid glancing when his eyes fell on a picture frame next to him on the desk. Slowly, he picked it up and began looking at it, it was a picture from the wedding. Squall and I were in the center, smiling sweetly and holding each other hands, while everyone else was surrounding us. Zell looked at the picture for a few minutes and then as if coming out of a daze he said, "You know Squall, you are not the only one that misses her, she was a friend to all of us."  
  
Squall shot him a look that could have stricken anyone in the vicinity down in an instant. The top lip of his mouth curled up, and his tongue moistened his lips as though he were going to begin to scream. Suddenly, he shook his head, and said quietly the phrase that seemed to suit everything conversation, "Whatever."  
  
Zell got up, a little distraught and said, "I'm sorry Squall, I know I shouldn't have said that. I'm gonna go now to get some lunch. Wanna come with me?" Then he added, "…buddy?"  
  
Squall looked up at him sharply, and rose from his bed. He walked over to the door to join his friend for lunch when the phone in his room began to ring. It was hooked up next to the computer, and the desk was placed right next to the door. Squall put his finger up to signal one minute to Zell, then walked over to the desk and picked up the phone.  
  
"Hello?" he paused, "Oh hi Irvine," another short pause, "Yes, Zell and I were just headed to the cafeteria." Squall listened for a long minute then said, "I know I sound a little upset, I thought it could be good news. I know I know, I won't think about it too much. So we'll meet you there? Alright. Bye Irvine."  
  
Squall put down the phone, and picked up his replacement jacket since his other one was in another place, or at least he hoped it still existed. Then he walked back to the door to join Zell. They left the room and as they were closing the door, the phone began to ring again. Squall caught the door before it shut and reached in, picking up the phone from the hallway.  
  
He answered, "Yea Irvine, we are on our way," Squall went to put it back on the hook when he heard a different voice on the phone, it had not been Irvine's expected retort.  
  
"Hello Squall… How'd you like the fireworks?" The familiar voice said.  
  
"Why you Seifer! Tell me where she is!!!" Squall screamed, alarming Zell as to who was on the other end of the phone.  
  
"Awwww, Squally didn't like my fireworks! That upsets me!"   
  
The phone was then passed to a person with an also familiar female voice, and she spoke into the phone, "Now Squall, don't go upsetting Seifer! He went through a lot of trouble trying to make a good show for you, and look at the thanks you give him!" The phone was then handed back to Seifer, Squall knew because he could hear it being fumbled around with.  
  
Squall lowered his tone to a startling point, his blood boiling from everywhere within him was audible, "Tell me where Rinoa is, now Seifer."  
  
Seifer made a tsk tsk sound in his throat, "That's no way to treat two old friends Squall! Imagine Quisty calling me a traitor! Squally, Squally I am everything but a traitor."  
  
"I do not see how."  
  
"Well Squall its very simple…"  
  
Before Seifer could go on, Squall interrupted him, "I don't give a damn Seifer! Just tell me where she is!" His fierce voice broke down, "Tell me that she is alright."  
  
"Awww, puberty boy misses his girl. Don't be too worried Squall, she is alive and everything is fine, for now. You know what I want, you should be getting it to me pretty shortly."  
  
"I want to talk to her now Seifer! Put her on this damn phone!" Squall stomped his foot down on the floor in his rage.  
  
"Come now, making demands are we? Well alright, since I like ya so much Squall, you can talk to her. But keep it short."  
  
A long silence was heard, then a feeble familiar voice, "Hello? Squall?"  
  
"Rinoa! I'm so happy to talk to you! I thought you blew up in the explosion!"  
  
My eyebrows crumpled up in wonder, "What are you talking about Squall?"  
  
"The explosion of the submarine you were on, thank the stars that you are alright. Is the baby alright too?"  
  
I nodded and said to him, "Yes Squall, the baby is fine. Just please come to get us, please Squall." Then the phone was taken from my ear and Seifer was back on it.  
  
"Well Squall, I've given you what you wanted. Now give me what I want, pronto." Then he pushed the button on the phone and it shut off.; cutting me off from Squall and my safety.  
  
Seifer had moved me into a new place, and I was relieved to have my blindfold taken off. When I looked about the room, I was a lot happier with my accommodations. The bed was a lot more comfortable, and it wasn't half as dark as the prison I had been in at first. I actually had a light in my room, so I could see how large my room was. I was pleased with the new set of arrangements, although I would not let Seifer see my gratitude.   
  
Sleeping in the new transportation we were in was hard, it seemed to rock ever so slightly in the night when my eyes were closed. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night feeling quite ill, but I dismissed it as morning sickness due to my pregnancy. I knew we must have been facing some kind of turbulence in the water, but my mind floated back to the words that Squall had said, 'I'm so happy to talk to you! I thought you blew up in the explosion!' I pondered what it could have meant, but thought that Seifer may have blown up another ship with a torpedo and Squall thought that it was mine. I convinced myself that that idea had to be right. They did have sirens like an enemy attack, and Seifer had said that it has begun. I began to feel so bad, when I thought about the people that had been destroyed. I began to think that they may have had families. Perhaps someone on that ship was in the same situation I was in. I feel into a troubled sleep that night, and mentally cursed Seifer for destroying so many innocent lives.  
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Hey! Long chapter for you! The long delay wasn't my fault. For awhile they were doing upgrades, then one day I couldn't find the button to log in! I was very distraught, but here you go guys! Please review!!!!  
~Jess~ 


	15. Piercing Light

Hey everyone! Thank you Akira Makie and shinimegami for putting me on your favorite authors list! I feel so privileged! Seems like these people are coming out of the sky! ::is happy:: Don't forget to REVIEW, it puts a big smile on my face!  
~Jess~  
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Squall and Zell walked down the hallway to the cafeteria determinedly. They avoided any and all chatter from the surrounding classmates; many of which wished to give Squall their condolences for his loss. Upon entering the cafeteria, they immediately spotted Irvine and Selphie at a table and proceeded over.   
  
As Squall sat down, Irvine began to tease him for his tardiness, "Geez Squall, late much? I thought you were the guy that's always on time?"  
  
Squall took to a hushed tone of voice, as if he believed that everyone in the cafeteria could be and was plotting against him. He shifted his eyes from side to side, checking out the scene for any possible suspects, before he spoke, "Irvine, Selphie, Rinoa is alive."  
  
Irvine sighed and said gently, as if to a little boy that had lost a parent, "Squall, I know this is hard for you, hell it is hard for all of us. But we saw the ship explode, and you are going to have to except that…"His voice almost broke down to a watery finish, "You are going to have to except that Rinoa is not with us anymore, and I'm sure she is looking down on us right now and wishing we would go on with our lives. Seifer's sub had an accident, and there's nothing that can be done to change what has happened to our lives. We need to grieve and move on."   
  
Zell shook his head, "No Irvine, she is alive. The reason we are so late is because…" he paused and looked to Squall for approval before saying, "He called us, just a few minutes ago as we were leaving the room."  
  
They knew of whom he spoke. Smiles leapt onto the faces of Irvine and Selphie as they had heard the best piece of news that they had in a long time. This renewed hope gave them excitement of being reunited with their lost friend. Selphie almost couldn't contain her happiness. Her eyes seemed as though she would be dancing up and down and making a fool of herself, and it was heard in her voice as she shouted, "Is that true!?"  
  
Squall quieted her with his hands before saying, "Yes, it is. I spoke with Rinoa, and for some reason, she had no idea that her ship exploded."  
  
Irvine looked at him inquisitively, "How could that be?"  
  
Squall continued, "Well, their ship did disappear before our eyes and radar in that smoke. They were gone for a good many hours before the ship reemerged. Perhaps they have another vessel, that was waiting for them. Seifer did say that it was a fireworks show for me."  
  
Selphie asked, "But we checked all the submarines that are in the ocean and got full confirmation that Seifer was not on any of those ships. They have all be registered and checked thoroughly."  
  
Squall sat back in his chair and began to think of other possible situations or solutions to the brick wall they had run into. Almost on cue, his companions at the table began to imitate him, trying to think of any explanation they could. Suddenly, Zell hopped up from his chair and said in a loud whisper, so as not to provoke any wrath from Squall's temper, "What if this new thing isn't another submarine?"  
  
The answer seemed too obvious to them now, and it only seemed right that Zell would come up with the simplest idea. Irvine snapped his fingers and said, "We were near shore when we lost them in that cloud of smoke. They could be in any type of vehicle and in any part of the planet by now! How will we ever find them?"  
  
Squall said solemnly, "Well, he did ask for Cid as payment for the ransom, perhaps we could find someone that looks just like Cid to get some sort of tracking device into the ship…" It seemed that the last part of his statement was more thinking out loud than an idea set into stone. It also seemed a little farfetched, as it would endanger the life of another human being.   
  
Selphie said, "Perhaps she is not in the ocean, but on it. Maybe I can use the radar to find any other ships on the ocean right now. I'll get right on that! If it doesn't work, we can always find new methods for other vehicles, so keep on thinking you guys." She then left the table and skipped through the cafeteria and out the door.  
  
Squall leaned forward and put his head in his hands and stared downwards at the table that was covered in graffiti. Many of them were silly little things like Zell 3's Hot Dogs and Zell 3's TP. Squall assumed that TP were the initials of the girl that Zell had a crush on. He then saw Irvine's scratchings on the table of IK + ST 4 life. He sighed at the silly antics of people in love, and looked at the table nonchalantly until something caught his eye. He gasped when he saw the calligraphy of the words, 'Rinoa Leonhart.' Then he got up and excused himself back to his dorm. He needed some sort of peace, instead of being in a crowded cafeteria where his mind was clouded by other things.   
  
  
I sat there tracing the pane of the window with my finger. In this new room, underneath the window there was a shelf to sit on. There was nothing really interesting to look at outside the window, but the darkness seemed like a good place to sit and collect my thoughts. I wondered about the dead people from the ship, and thought about if their families would be notified. How would the message come? She thought about some young SeeD going to a house dressed in a uniform with a message written by someone that had never knew the family. I felt a little privileged, if anything happened to Squall in that kind of situation, I would most likely know the person handing me the letter, and they could provide a good shoulder for me to cry on. The very thought sickened me, why did bad things have to happen to such nice people?  
  
As I smoothed my hand over the window I heard a kind of crackling noise. I looked at it more carefully, then examined it again with my hand. It happened again, so I began to poke it with my fingertip. Somehow, my nail pierced it, and light began to stream through. I peeled at the sides of the mark and more light began to stream through, while pieces of the substance broke off and fell onto my lap. I began to work more quickly now, peeling at anything that didn't look right until I created a hole big enough for my eye to see out of. Out the window I saw the sun for the first time, and the sight of it invigorated me.  
  
I knew now that I wasn't on the submarine anymore, below me, I could see the waves crashing into the boat. I knew where the rocking sensation had come from, and I knew what Squall had been talking about. The submarine must have exploded before their very eyes; destroying their hopes and feelings. I began to feel sad, that Squall had thought that I had been killed in an untimely accident. I began to wonder how he handled it. Thinking that everyone in Garden would know about it and would be all asking him if he was alright and everything. I thought that the women whose husbands would have been lost if Seifer had destroyed another ship would have had to deal with the same things. I felt relieved that there was not any lost ship of souls whose families would have to hear from some younger SeeD, and I was happy that Squall knew my current condition.  
  
I decided not to peel any more paint off the window, for fear of the punishment I could receive. This left me bored and thinking of anything to keep me busy. I began to count the scratches on the floor of the cell and how many guards walked by me. Until finally, I placed a hand softly on my stomach and began to think of names for my unborn child. I hadn't found out what the sex of the child was before I was taken, so I had a large variety. The list of names still didn't seem to fit correctly though., and I grew tired of the silly game. I just didn't want to find a name I liked without Squall's approval, so I prepared a mental list to ask Squall when I saw him.   
  
Suddenly, I heard voices coming from the vent next to the window below me. All the heating vents must have been connected, so I moved my head closer to see if I could identify who was speaking and what of. I heard Seifer, but only Seifer, and thought it was a telephone conversation since he was pausing and asking questions that weren't responded to.  
  
I heard, "I know this is taking a long time, you don't hafta tell me! I was hired by Galbadia for the capture of Cid, and they said by any means necessary… Yea, yea, well she was less guarded… Believe me, I was going after him, but saw an easier opportunity with her, besides I also had a little revenge to take care of, and it was killing two birds with one stone…. Yea, yea, well I gotta go…Important things to handle." Then I heard no more.  
  
After a while of having nothing to do, I went back to peeling the window paint off. I didn't care if they knew that I was doing it anymore, I needed to see the sun. I needed to feel the sun's rays that would warm up my cold spirit.  
  
  
Squall had another interrupted napping session, when Selphie had returned with the report. Before going to Squall's dorm she had gotten Irvine and Zell and they all went as a group to tell Squall the news. Squall was a little groggy when they all tramped inside his room, but he tried to be as nice as possible, which wasn't much considering it was Squall. Selphie had brought a map with her and placed it on the floor of the dorm and they all gathered around it. She pointed to a red marker on the map and said, "Now this is the location of Seifer's ship. I was so happy that it was a ship because they are easier to track, and it was my first guess. Seifer's ship did have a good cloaking device though, and I bet he still thinks he's safe behind his barrier."  
  
Irvine said, "Why would he think that if there is technology that can find him?"   
  
Selphie said with a proud grin, "Because Irvy, I just created the technology that found him." Then she looked back to the map and continued, "So, we need to get a boat, then travel to this spot and find his ship. Zell and I can create a diversion, while Squall and Irvine climb onboard. Sound like a good plan?"  
  
Squall stared down at the map, and nodded slightly; Selphie smiled at this simple gesture and looked to the others. Once they all agreed, they started to make preparations so they could leave as soon as possible.   
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Happy Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday everyone!  
~Jess~ 


	16. Nuntius Venus

Thank you Angel of Fate for putting me on your favorite author's list! Sorry if I take long with this chapter, I had Latin Midyears this week and I had to study a lot then my mom was harassing me about scholarships!  
~Jess~  
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The next morning, I was awoken by a figure standing in my doorway. I guessed it was one of the guards that always stood outside my door in case of an attempted escape. As he looked at the window that was stripped of all the paint, he did not seem pleased. He then came into the room and inspected my work, then glanced at his watch. The reflection of the watch struck me right in the eyes, and I tried to hide from the impending daylight by hiding underneath the thin blanket that lay on my bed. Slowly, I heard his footsteps approach me, and then he shook me gently. When I didn't acknowledge him, I was rewarded with a harsher shaking.   
  
I felt the guard searching for my arms and I recoiled at his touch, and pretended I was tired. I didn't want him to think that I expected him to do something. I wanted to see how this would play out, and eventually he pinned my arms. He held them down with one hand forcefully, and with his other hand he produced handcuffs from his pocket. When my eyes fell upon them, a gasp escaped my lips, and a cold, tingling wave of fear swept over me. My head shook back and forth slightly as he put the handcuffs on me and wrapped them around the rails of the bed. I used my eyes to plead with him; telling him that he should think of the consequences of whatever actions he could be taking.  
  
He stepped back from me after he was done restraining me and said, "I'm only following orders. I am not here to hurt you in anyway."  
  
As the words were said I felt a great weight lifted off my shoulders. The air that I had been holding finally was liberated from my lungs and traveled back out my mouth. I began to anticipate him telling me what was going to take place and longed for him to do so. Before I could ask him anything, he left the room, and the iron door slammed as he exited, leaving me there with a thousand more questions.  
  
  
Organizing this next mission they were going on wasn't as hard as they expected it to be. They could basically take everything out of the submarine and use it again on this next quest, then they also added a few more things. They purchased two small cigarette boats, and were going to pick them up in Dollet. Seifer's ship had last been recorded off the coast of the town, so they decided it would be the best place to begin their quest. They prepared tickets for a ship to take them to Dollet, so they could be inconspicuous and they would also be able to survey the surroundings.   
  
The morning they left was filled with hope from every member of the group. Even Cid seemed to have an optimistic twinkle in his eyes as he bid them farewell. Cid had let them borrow a car to accommodate them to Balamb, where the ship was leaving from. When they reached Balamb, they stayed again for a night with Mrs. Dincht. She didn't seem too put out by their intrusion, and they stayed up all night playing cards with her. They decided to play with Balamb rules, for Selphie was new to the game, and wanted to learn as much as she could. They played in the dining room, where occasionally, Mrs. Dincht would excuse herself and return with warm baked cookies.  
  
In the morning, she prepared breakfast, and she smiled continuously, throughout they entire time they were there. She seemed so proud of Zell to finally have made friends. Her eyes seemed taken away when she looked upon him, as though she was remembering the little boy who would come home whining about an older boy who had been making fun of him that day. As they prepared to leave, she gave Zell a kiss on the cheek and a long hug, as well as brown paper bagged lunches for the crew.  
  
They walked down to the dock, where they saw the large ship that would transport them to Dollet. It would only take a few hours, just like a ferry ride, but they were not on vacation like everyone else on the ship. As they approached the ship, they noticed how large it was. In big golden letters on the back of the ship read the words, "Nuntius Venus" and the date in which it was constructed. They boarded the ship enthusiastically. Selphie grabbed a table inside for them all to eat their lunches on. They were all very grateful for the sandwiches and snacks that Mrs. Dincht had packed for them. In Zell's lunch he found a letter from his mother, and quickly tried to hide it. Irvine snatched it out of his grasp, and began to read it, mockingly. By the time Zell grabbed it and shoved it in his pocket, it was too late, the damage had been done. Selphie and Irvine were almost falling out of their seats laughing, while Squall looked on with a hint of a smile in his eyes.  
  
After lunch, Squall went outside onto the hull of the boat. They all watched him outside from the window they had been seated next to. His friends didn't want to bother him, he seemed very tense for this mission. He stood out on the hull in thought for the rest of the ride, despite the fierce winds against him.  
  
  
Just as I started entertaining myself by making music with my chains against the rails of the bed, Seifer arrogantly entered the room. As he walked, Hyperion bounced along with his stride. He looked at my window, and then looked at me with raised eyebrows. He shook his head with a little smirk, and I could have sworn I heard the words, "Nice job," spew from his mouth. He began to drag a metal chair over to my bed, making me squirm for I could not cover my ears to block out even a decibel of the horrible sound it produced.  
  
Seifer sat on the chair backwards, and he crossed his arms over the back of it. He looked me over, and said, "Well, how have you been Rinoa? Comfy?"  
  
I shot him a look of pure hatred, coming forth from the fires in my chest, and remained silent.  
  
"Rinoa, I do wish you to be comfy. Looks like you are going to be here for a while."  
  
"Why would you say that?" I asked with a undertone of sarcasm.  
  
"Well Rinoa, I am beginning to feel for you."  
  
I almost laughed at him, this sudden compassion was too out of character for him. I said with a more sarcastic tone, "Oh really Seifer? I can really tell how your feeling for me, I mean isn't it obvious? You show it so much!"  
  
He seemed to chuckle at my retort, and continued, "I mean it is kinda sad Rinoa. The love of your life isn't coming for you."  
  
I said triumphantly, "Ha! Squall will save me, I know in my heart he will."  
  
"It's just that so much time has gone by. I think if he really loved you, he would have already brought Cid to me. It is such a pity that you have to find out this way, you know, you being pregnant with his child and all."  
  
"Squall will save me from your clutches. It's not his fault that you are toying with him."  
  
"I think that if Quisty did that to me, I'd be devastated."  
  
"Then your love isn't as strong as ours. I know that he is coming for me. He will not give into the likes of you."  
  
"It is just so sad…" He said, as he started to get up from his chair. Then he patted my shoulder with his calloused hands, and I wished that I could have bitten down hard into his hand. As he left the room, I heard him say to the guard, "Get a few things ready for tomorrow night. You know what I mean?" The guard nodded, and Seifer gave him a confident smile in return. As he turned to exit the room, I noticed him take one last long look at me before he brought the door to be sealed with a slam.   
  
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Hey, like the name of the boat? It means messenger of Venus in Latin. I wrote Venus in the genitive, so it doesn't mean messenger Venus, but either way it works, that's what is great about Latin! See what all that studying did for me, hehe. Please review! I know this chapter isn't all that interesting but, don't worry, it will pick up!  
~Jess~ 


	17. Communicator Static

Thank you Cody the Impaler for putting me on your favorite authors list! I'm so happy with all the reviews I've been getting for this story! Thanks everyone!   
~Jess~  
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Once they got off the boat, Squall seemed entirely dedicated to the search. As they disembarked, they all caught a glimpse of the ship they would be proceeding to. It was the only ship that could be seen from the harbor. As they settled near the beach; packing things accordingly into their boats, Selphie got out her improved radar and began to check out the surrounding waters. It turned out that the ship they had seen was Seifer's to confirm their suspicions, and it would be easy to get to by their cigarette boats. Then they decided to proceed out into the harbor, but not to make their assault until cover of darkness.  
  
"Now Squall," Irvine said. "We hafta act like we're silly tourists, like all these other motor boaters out here. We don't want any attention drawn to us from that boat."  
  
Squall nodded at his companion, and looked to his right. On the ship next to him, Selphie was driving, and Zell was sitting in the back next to the motor. Irvine told Selphie to act casually as though they were taking in a vacation of theirs. Irvine was about to tell Zell the same, but he noticed how Zell was sunning himself. Irvine shook his head and felt compelled to throw something at him, but stopped himself, for Zell was doing exactly as he wanted.   
  
Their two ships anchored next to each other, and around dinner time, Selphie brought out the cooler. She had bought it on the beach before they had gotten into the boats. It was a large red container, it easily fit all the sandwich meat she had bought for this purpose. The four of them seemed very happy to have it, and began to eat, each watching the ship as the sun began to set.  
  
  
I had lost track of the days, from the time I had been abducted to that point; where I began to count how many days I had been imprisoned. My daily cycle was so off. I was sleeping more, and I never really knew if it was night or day for weeks. Now they had me chained to my bed awaiting tomorrow. I knew it was around sunset because of the light that I had opened for myself, but I couldn't be sure what time it was exactly. I noticed that I had began to fantasize more often, always about being rescued, it seemed to be one of the only things I could do to take my mind off of the boredom and fear I carried.   
  
Quistis came in a little later that afternoon, and sat down next to me. She seemed disheartened somehow, in earlier days she was more harsh and arrogant. As I looked at her, her eyes seemed glassy. I knew something had changed in her life, but I figure it out from her behavior. For a while she just sat there, and didn't say anything. I had been accustomed to the silence and didn't think much of it. I could tell though, that Quistis felt uneasy about it, she was fidgeting a lot, and looking out my window constantly.   
  
Finally, she spoke, "I'm sorry Rinoa."  
  
I asked quickly, "What's going on?"  
  
"I never realized it…"  
  
"Realized what Quistis? What's going on?"  
  
"Oh you wouldn't understand!" She got up as she said this, and began to pace.  
  
"Quistis, what's wrong?"  
  
"Have you ever thought about how you would react if you lost it?" She finally said to me and turned to look at me as she spoke.  
  
"Lost what?" I asked, her question was too general for me even to begin to think.  
  
"Nevermind. Just thinking out loud."  
  
"Did Seifer hurt you?"  
  
Quistis turned to me, looking furious. "What would make you say that!? Seifer is the only person in this world I love. I know that I will love him forever! Don't you ever say anything like that again to me again!" She emphasized the word ever, and the glassy look of her eye had turned to flame.   
  
I didn't ask any other questions after that. The anger brimming inside her, made me believe that she would strike me again if I even spoke a word. She stayed in the room for a little while, but didn't speak again after what had been said. Her words kept me thinking as I laid there on the little bed, my wrists hurting from being in the same position for so long.  
  
  
It had gotten completely dark out from the lack of lights on the water. There, they didn't have any street lights, and the only lights that could be relied on were on the boats. Instead of turning on their lights, Selphie used her radar to guide them to the ship, for it was more inconspicuous. Occasionally they would turn on a flashlight to make sure they were not going to crash into anything.   
  
Eventually, they found their way to the rear of the ship. Squall used a rope and secured his boat to a ladder on the back of the ship. Selphie and Zell watched until Squall and Irvine ascended to the deck before driving away from the rear of the ship. When Squall got to the top of the ladder, he looked around cautiously before motioning to Irvine to climb up.  
  
"Okay, Irvine. Now, don't use your microphone for anything right now. Someone may overhear it. This ship is large and is going to take a long time to search. We will meet back here in fifteen minute intervals. Come back whether or not you have found her. Send me a message, using the keyboard on the communicator if you find her, and tell me the section of the ship. If you or her get into a lot of trouble that you can't fight your way out of, call Selphie on the boat and send me a message. I'll do the same for you. If I send you one, make your way back here. Understand?"  
  
"Crystal clear Squall. Set your watch to vibrate. If you find uniforms we can use, bring them back here at the fifteen minute mark. It will be easier to get around with them. I'll take the right wing, you can take the left. Let's get going."  
  
Irvine smiled at Squall, and Squall looked at Irvine with such appreciation. Then they separated and began to search the different wings.  
  
  
I heard footsteps near my door again, and then they stopped outside my door. I heard Seifer's voice say, "Never mind about tomorrow, I feel like doing it tonight." Then I heard the large door creak as it was opened. Seifer stepped in, carrying a towel, and Hyperion. He placed the towel on the chair and sat atop it. I felt him look me over a few times, and it disgusted me.  
  
"Well Rinoa, how have you been feeling lately?"  
  
"To be honest Seifer, my arms are feeling a bit cramped."  
  
"That's a shame Rinoa, I really hate it for you to be uncomfortable. But there's nothing I can do about it."  
  
"Sure there is, you can use your key and take off these handcuffs."  
  
"Oh if it were only that easy." Seifer said, and I felt a bit of arrogance in his voice.   
  
I sighed and turned my gaze away from him. I heard him stir, and then I felt the bed deepen to accommodate the extra weight it was now holding with him on it. I started to move my body away from his as he sat down. Then I felt his arm creep around my side. He was staring me in the eyes, and I could not look directly into his. I feared him. I tried to move upwards on the bed, in order to slink away from him, when I felt him put pressure on my arms.  
  
"Seifer, what are you doing?" I asked shyly.  
  
Seifer replied, "Why, I'm keeping my promise Rin."  
  
"What promise?"  
  
"The promise I made the first day you arrived."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
"To finish my carving."  
  
I started to struggle with him, but because my arms had been tied up so tightly, it was futile. Eventually, Seifer pinned my arms with all his weight. I felt him un zipper Squall's jacket and push it from my sides. Then his hands brought up my shirt, exposing my skin to the cool air. Goosebumps were roused on my skin, and Seifer seemed pleased with this.  
  
"No, Seifer. Please don't." I kept pleading.  
  
He brought Hyperion over from the chair, then I felt the cold metal pierce my flesh. I winced in pain, and tears began to flow down my cheeks. I felt my blood trickling down my side. Smiling almost sweetly at me, Seifer reached over to the chair and picked up the towel. He then began to pat my bleeding flesh.  
  
He whispered close to my ear as I shook with anger and pain, "I need to do this so I can see better. A's are so much harder to carve then S's you know, and probably a little more painful too."  
  
Tears welled up in my eyes as he brought the sword back down to my flesh. Before he could continue, we both heard a static-like voice come from the communicator in his pocket. He looked at me almost disappointedly, and placed the towel on my chest. He then rose from the bed, as I began to struggle furiously with my binds. He walked over to the other side of the room and spoke into the communicator, "What was that? Over."  
  
Then the voice on the other end of the communicator came through clear as day, "Sir, we have a problem here. Irvine Kinneas was spotted in the right wing of the ship, but… we lost him sir."  
  
Seifer glanced over at me with a surprised look on his face. I felt the tears slid onto my lips as I smiled widely. Then the door was slammed as Seifer went through it angrily. I knew that he was dreading this day. He feared the wrath he would get from Squall for hurting our family. Seifer knew he would have to stand against Squall again, because of his demonic plan.  
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I mentioned the carving back in chapter 2 if you wanna remember more about it. I'm so mad. I typed out the last half of this chapter, then my computer erased it! GRRRRRR… well I hope its as good as I know it was before!  
~Jess~ 


	18. Silence and Keys

Happy crap day everyone! LOL, sorry about my hatred for Valentines day. Hope everyone had a good one! The beginning of this chapter is going a little bit back in time with Squall.   
~Jess~  
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Squall was walking down one of the halls in his sector searching. He walked lightly on the metal flooring and with each step he took, he feared capture. Suddenly, he heard hard footfalls on the metal, that could not have been his own. Seeing an alcove to the left, Squall leaped behind the wall and pressed himself against it, in order to camouflage himself as much as possible. The footfalls stopped, and he heard a familiar wretched voice say, "Never mind about tomorrow, I feel like doing it tonight."  
  
A growl seemed to stir in Squall's throat but was only audible to him and his fury. He pressed himself closer against the cold metallic wall and tried to hear the conversation he believed to be going on inside. Squall knew that Seifer was talking about me, and Squall began to shake at the thought that he had failed me. He believed that Seifer had entered the room to murder me or to do some other despicable thing, because he hadn't taken Cid to him. He began to think rapidly about how he could distract him from the room, before he could do the unthinkable.   
  
Quickly, he fumbled for his communicator and typed out a message to Irvine. He wrote: "I have found Rinoa, I need you to distract. Then get back to the boat and drive back a few yards. We'll be there soon." Then he put the communicator back into his pocket.   
  
Squall took out his gunblade and lowered it, and moved it out of his alcove. He looked into the reflection for any signs of Irvine's distraction. The guard seemed normal out front of the door and was rocking back and forth on his heels. Squall noticed that the guard didn't have a visual weapon, but it didn't mean one couldn't be concealed somewhere. He loathed the man standing outside the door, acting so calmly despite what was going on in the room. His heart beat furiously in his chest as he waited for a sign from Irvine.   
  
Something began to tickle his side and Squall's heart leaped in his chest. He released his deep breath slowly and put his hand into his pocket and took out the communicator. The communicator had buzzed with a message from Irvine that read: "Will do, get ready."  
  
Squall looked back into the reflection of his weapon. A few minutes later, he heard a fierce clanging of chains. His heart started beating faster with hope that Seifer hadn't hurt me. He stared at the gunblade in his hand waiting for Seifer to emerge, and prayed that he would come out without any blood on him. The seconds seemed to drag on like hours to him. He felt as though he had been standing there for an eternity.   
  
Moving his foot closer to the light of the hallway, Squall had decided to advance, when he saw a familiar figure emerge from the door. Seifer's face looked like it had lost a lot of its color. He watched with keen eyes as Seifer turned to the guard and said, "Guard her well. I have some business to attend to." Squall noted that his voice didn't sound as it usually did. The voice seemed less dominant, and its sound seemed to quiver. He watched Seifer clean off the tip of his blade, and Squall's hand shook his gunblade. He pulled it back quickly so it would not be seen, but wanted to charge out at Seifer for whatever he had done. His hands gripped the handle of the blade tightly, and his knuckles began to turn white. He heard light footfalls of Seifer jogging away, even the steps seemed very hesitant.   
I wanted to scream, the chains were frustrating me terribly. I prayed that Seifer would not return anytime soon, or even at all. The only thing I could hear was the metal clanging against the bed, then they became amplified by the surrounding walls. Pulling at the cuffs made my wrists hurt, but I couldn't think of anything else to do. Despite what my body was telling me, I would not give up.   
  
I heard the door open, but I didn't stop. I pulled at the chains binding me to the bed. Out of the corner of my eye I could see a tall figure approaching me, but I would not look at him. I believed it to be Seifer, and I wouldn't take any more pain from him. As he stepped one inch closer I yelled, "Get the hell away from me Seifer! You better let me go right now! You'll regret it if you don't!" Then noises came out of my mouth, they sounded in my ears to be little squeals as I tried to release myself. I shut my eyes tightly as I heard the person come closer to me, bracing myself for an imminent slap for misconduct.   
  
To my surprise, I felt soft hands gently hold my pale ones. I felt a thumb brush my own softly. I recognized that the person had a ring on, because it was still cool against my skin. Slowly, I peeked through my shut eyelashes, and saw a shadowy figure that I recognized. I smiled widely at Squall, and he put his arms around me. Moving my arms, I tried to put my own around him, and I was further reminded of my chains as they clanged against the metal.   
  
Squall pulled away from his embrace, and smiled a rare smile at me. He kissed my nose and as he did so he gently rubbed my stomach. Tears started rolling down my face, and with every move he made, more tears began to flow. I noticed him take some keys out of his pocket, and he unlocked my cuffs. Immediately, I threw my arms around him and let all my tears come out. His hands rubbed my back trying to calm me as I did so.  
  
Pulling me away, he said, "I've missed you so much Rinoa. You don't know what I've been through trying to find you." Then I noticed him look at my swollen cheek, "What's this?"  
  
I sniffled, and said, feeling a little childish, "I don't remember who that was from, but both Quistis and Seifer have hit me. I think each of them have hit me a couple of times." I saw the anger rise in Squalls eyes, and then I pulled him into another firm embrace and said, "I've missed you so much. Don't ever let us be apart again."   
  
I know he had noticed the towel before, but now he brought my attention back to it, "What's this?" He said as he tugged on it.   
  
"Seifer tried to finish his carving.."  
  
"Does it hurt, Rin?" Squall seemed to growl as he asked.   
  
"Yea, it does. But not so much now that I'm with you."   
  
He pouted his lips at me, something I had never seen him do, and used a cure on me to try and ease my pain. Honestly, the carving was the furthest thing from my mind since my knight had come to rescue me. I kissed him on the cheek, as he helped me get up from the bed. He whispered to me, "We really gotta get going. We don't know when someone will come back and Irvine and the others are waiting."  
  
I asked inquisitively as I remembered the guard outside my room, "How did you get by the guard and get those keys?"  
  
Squall told me, "I used stopga and silence, he never saw it coming. Then I searched him for the keys, thankfully, he had some on him. I don't know what I would have done if he didn't."  
  
Squall took my hand and began to lead me out of the room cautiously. He first stuck his head out into the hallway, listening and looking for any sign of people. Then he lead me down the dark hall, each of us trying to be as silent as possible.   
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Sorry this is kind of a cliffhanger. But whenever I read something, the chapters seem to end in cliffhangers, I dunno! Sorry this took so long, I'm on vacation and kinda unmotivated. Thank you for all the reviews!!! J  
~Jess~ 


	19. The Griever

Hey everyone! Sorry for the long delay. I've been struck down by a heinous disease called SENIORITIS!!! Don don donnnn. Anyway, I'm back, this is the last chapter of this fic ::tear:: so I hope you all enjoy!  
~Jess~  
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As we were walking down the winding tubular halls of the vessel, I was clinging to Squall's arm and would not let myself fall even one step behind. We walked for a short time, but the time seemed to last longer, because of our mutual fear. Our footfalls were very light on the flooring of the ship, as we hurried along the small corridors. I hoped that Squall remembered the way from which he came, because each hallway was identical to the previous one. For the first time in a while I felt protected. I didn't fear Seifer or anyone else entering my cell and hurting me either emotionally or physically. Squall was with me and he would protect me from any kind of disaster.   
  
The carving started hurting again, so I placed my hand on it. As I withdrew my hand, I saw that it was covered in a thin layer blood from the wound I sustained on my chest. I thought to myself that the cure spells must have worn off, and I would be feeling it fully very soon. The same way I felt it all those years ago after that snowy night. I mentally cursed Seifer for all the pain he has made me endure during my entire life. I had always feared him since that night.   
  
Suddenly, Squall stopped dead in his tracks, and threw his arm up against me to keep me from walking forward. We both strained our ears to hear what Squall had heard or only imagined. We stood still for a what seemed like an eternity, and I noticed that Squall had stopped breathing in order to amplify his hearing. Then I heard the sound we had both been dreading. It sounded far away at that point, but it was as clear as a bell. I gasped, and the breath caught in my throat as we both listened to the footfalls that sounded like cement blocks crashing on the grating of the floor. Squall turned and grabbed my hand, then lead me down a flight of stairs that we found shortly after, and then we waited at the bottom of the stairwell.   
  
"What are we going to do Squall?" I whispered to him.  
  
"We're going to wait until they pass the door, then get back up there when it seems safe. Don't worry Rinoa, I'll protect you."  
  
I hugged him closer and we both listened and did not speak another word for what seemed like an hour. We both watched the light streaming through the door at the top of the stairs for a sign of any sort. Then we got an unmistakable sign. We heard the door to the stairwell open, and voices talking about what was going on. They didn't seem too interested in the conversation, and must not have been very great soldiers, because they were not racing about the ship in any way during this emergency. Squall took my hand again, and we escaped quietly from their earshot by going through the door at the bottom of the stairs. Then Squall directed me into a room nearby, and we hid in there, praying that we would be alone in the room, and they would pass right by it.   
  
We heard voices for many minutes after that. The two were standing in the hall chatting about frivolous things, and as they talked, I heard Squall sigh a little with relief. He smiled down at me, as I was gripping his arm and pressing myself closer to him. Squall noticed my blood soaked shirt then, and cast another Curaga on me, even if it was only for temporary relief. After a while, the two guards left and we decided to wait a little while longer just to make sure they were not going to return. When we heard no sound, Squall got up to check. He tried to slither his arm away from my grasp, but I wouldn't have any of it. I clutched on to it, and followed him to the door, where he again put his neck out into the hallway and looked left to right. He glanced back at me and nodded, and we left the room. We walked across the hallway, when we saw the feet of other guards coming down the stairs. Squall turned us to go back into our hiding room, when we heard other guards coming from the hallway to the right of us.   
  
The guards saw us soon after, and started advancing toward us. Squall started running around the ship, pulling me along with him in any attempt to escape the guards. We ran down many different hallways and soon I had no idea of where we were. I prayed that Squall did, otherwise I had no idea what we would do. When we finally lost them, Squall and I caught our breath. We pressed ourselves against the wall of the aisle, while our bodies pushed oxygen in and out of our lungs.   
  
When we couldn't wait around any longer for fear of capture, we continued walking down the corridor we had found ourselves in. This corridor was different from all the other ones that we had been chased through, for this one had a door to the outside of the ship that lead to the hull. We walked out cautiously, as we had been doing the entire day. I could finally see the sky, it seemed a while since I could look up and see the sky, and I will never forget how it looked that night. It was gray out, but had its own kind of beauty. Although I couldn't see the moon, as I had been yearning to for so long, I still thought it to be beautiful.  
  
We walked out onto the hull, and peered off the bow into the water searching for Selphie and Zell's boat. It was nowhere to be seen and terror struck inside us.   
  
"Where the hell are they?" I heard Squall mutter to himself.   
  
"Who?"  
  
"Selphie and Zell, they are supposed to be out at the front of the boat to distract them if it was necessary."  
  
"Please tell me that nothing has happened to them. I'd feel horrible if harm was caused by me."  
  
"Rinoa, you wouldn't be at fault, it would be Seifer's doings that hurt them." Squall tried to reassure me that they were all right by squeezing my side really tight as he held me. I smiled up at him, and we kissed a sweet soft kiss. Afterwards, he pressed his forehead against mine, and just stared into my eyes, whispering, "Don't worry Rinoa, it will be all right. We'll get out of this."  
  
Suddenly, Squall jerked his head to the side to see something I had not seen. I felt Squall move away from me, in order to stand in front of me; protecting me once again. All I could see was a large white flash, coming at an unbelievable speed toward us. Squall drew his gunblade and stood in the stance that he is known for. I noticed that the white flash was topped with blonde. I gasped; Seifer had found our position.   
  
Squall pushed me back out of the way of Seifer's Hyperion. As I stepped back I saw the sparks from the swords clashing scatter along the deck of the ship. I felt compelled to rush in between them and somehow stop this horrible act, but it was then that I heard a whip crack. I turned, and saw Quistis coming from the other side of the captain's quarters. I started backing up further. Squall had not equipped me with a weapon, and I was defenseless since I no longer had my sorceress powers. I backed up away from the reach of Quistis' long whip, until I was tripped by a large rope for the anchor of the ship. Quistis smiled an unsettling smile at me, and I tried to get up but I was in a hard position to climb back up on my feet.   
  
Suddenly, from behind Quistis; I saw Zell. As she cracked her whip and was about to bring it down upon me, Zell jumped in front of her, and tried to wrestle the whip away from her. He managed to pry the whip out of her grasp, and they started fumbling around, hitting each other and wrestling. In the background, I heard Squall and Seifer's battle rage on. Finally, I got up from being entangled in the rope, it had been so much harder for me to get up, since I was bearing more weight. As I ascended, I noticed what Quistis had been doing. Quistis was backing Zell up into the quarrel by going after him. Zell obviously didn't want to hurt Quistis because of all of their past friendship. He was blatantly taking it easy on her.   
  
"Zell!" I cried, trying to protect him, as I was reaching out to him I said, "She's leading you into a trap!"  
  
Zell shot me a glance and nodded, then went into an offensive position to block Quistis from pushing him into the savage brawl. I looked over to what was going on with Squall and Seifer to see if I could help. I could hear Squall murmuring obscenities at Seifer, and pouring out all his hatred from his burning heart. Their battle didn't seem like it could end anytime soon, they were too evenly matched. I looked on in horror, praying that Squall would overcome this brawl, praying that all of us could overcome this brawl.   
  
Quistis had stopped holding back her strength, and began to attack Zell with everything she had. Suddenly, I was hearing gunshots that seemed to be getting closer, and I automatically recognized the shots from Irvine's gun. I realized that when we didn't return to the ship, they must have come onboard looking for us. They were so loyal, and I found tears begin to sting my eyes. I blinked them back, I knew that I couldn't loose my cool. Quistis was leaving marks on Zell from her whip, and they began to bleed. I was going to help, but then I heard Zell mutter something. He was pressed up against her to escape her whip, and he caught her off guard. He muttered, "I'm really sorry Quistis." Then with his shoulder, he pushed her off the boat into the freezing cold water. I ran over to the railing of the boat, and watched her struggle in the water. As I did, her whip went flying in the air, to strike Zell on the head; knocking him unconscious.  
  
I ran over to him, and ripped a piece of my dress and blotted the blood flowing from his head. I started nudging him to see if he would wake up. Then checking his pulse I knew that he was still alive, just knocked unconscious by Quistis' final blow. For one ultimate check, I put my hand over his mouth. His hot breath hit my hand, confirming my suspicions. I pulled him gently away from the battle that was still raging on between Seifer and Squall. When we had gotten far enough away, I stood up. I was trying to find anyway to help my husband. I scanned the deck of the ship for a weapon, and found nothing.   
  
I tried to pick up one of the big ropes that is used for the anchor on the ship in order to trip Seifer, but it was too heavy, and I would not be able to use it. Looking over, I saw that Seifer had found some new strength inside him, and was on the offensive to my worn-out Squall. My face got red with anger and as it did, I felt a tingling deep inside me. I felt my sorceress power beginning to restore themselves in me. Seifer started smashing Squall's gunblade with his own, as sparks flew everywhere, the two pushed up against one other, each trying to end the battle with one quick flick of the wrist. I focused on Seifer, and with my restored powers I screamed, "FIRAGA!" A burst of flame erupted from my hands, and as I screamed, Seifer's attention was drawn to me, and so was knocked off-guard over the railing of the ship into the waiting sea. After his fall, I felt my powers leave me again for good.   
  
I breathed one deep breath of relief, and ran over to Squall, who was kneeling on the ground holding his chest. I kneeled in front of him, and pushed the sweat soaked hair out of his face. He removed his hand from his chest, and brought it to my face. As he did so, I saw the large wound on his chest that Seifer must have given to him sometime during the fight. I felt Squall's hand slide off my face, as he plopped down into a sitting position on the ground.   
  
Quickly, I put a hand of mine behind his head, so he would not smash it on the ground. With my free hand, I ripped more of my dress and took the piece and applied pressure to his wound. He felt like a little baby in my arms, looking up at me like he only trusted me in the entire world, as I cradled him. He placed his right hand on my stomach, and whispered to me with laboring breaths, "Rinoa, I love you. Take care of our child. Please."   
  
Tears streamed down my face, I said to him sniffling, "No Squall, you are going to be all right. Don't talk like that. You are gonna be fine. We're gonna bring you back, and Dr. Kadowaki is going to fix up this up!" I stroked his cheek, and started to plead with him, "Squall, don't leave me. Please Squall, you are going to be fine. Don't leave me now that we are back in each other's arms. Don't leave me to raise our child alone. Squall…please…"  
  
Squall stared at me with his stormy blue eyes, that matched the storm raging above us. Rain drops began to fall loudly on the ship, a few striking Squall's face making his eyes flutter. He took a deep breath, and with it he told me words that would never leave me, "Rin. I will always be with you. I will be watching over you and our child even if it is from above." He smiled at me, and the strength left his hand and it fell from my face and came to rest on my stomach. My tears dripped onto his angelic face, along with the rain pouring from above, as he lay there; lifeless in my arms.  
Squall was buried with a commander's honor and procession. All of the Garden mourned the lose of my Squall. For weeks, total strangers would come up to me and give me their condolences, and each time, it was like a knife in my heart. I often confided in Selphie about how I was feeling, and we became better friends over time. Everything had changed, I felt all the eyes of Garden staring at me, no matter what I was doing. Though, eventually, life seemed to take to a schedule, and I got on with living it.   
  
I found out from the newspapers, that not only did they pull Seifer and Quistis's bodies from the sea, but one other. They found an unborn child, bearing the blood of Seifer and Quistis. I then realized what Quistis meant by what she had said to me that day. Perhaps her intuition about the upcoming events spawned those questions that she asked me. Or perhaps she had just found out about her pregnancy, and wanted to talk to someone that knew all about the subject. My feelings about Quistis's death were different than Seifer's. Quistis had done what I would have done in the situation, protect her love no matter the cost.   
  
I also found out that Selphie and Irvine had been taking care of the guards and other such people on the ship so they would not come out to the hull and overpower us. Later, when officials arrived, Seifer's people were imprisoned in the D - District Prison. Many of them been liberated by parole, because they had only been following orders of a superior. Balamb never did uncover who in Galbadia had hired Seifer to capture Cid, or even if there was such a plot, but these days Cid is more well guarded, and has even begun to take self defense classes.   
  
During the day and even as I shower, Griever now hangs around my neck, next to my scar. I wear it because I am now the griever, I grieve daily for the death of Squall. Someday, I pray the pendant will hang from the neck of Kali, our daughter. Also, each day, I am reminded of the scar on my chest. But the carving did not turn out as Seifer had anticipated. Although I always think of Seifer when I see it, I am more reminded of Squall. For the "A" was never finished, and as it healed it turned into an "l." So I bear the initials, "Sl," Squall's initials. And each day, I smile at the memory of Squall, how he opened up to me as he did no other, and our love that entwined our entire beings.   
  
Our baby turned into a beautiful daughter who is full of life. Her eyes are stormy gray, and her hair is feathery, just like her father's. Her hair bearing my raven color and her body shaped as mine is. Each time someone tells Kali a story of her father, she becomes very intrigued. She is very interested in everything having to do with him. I see a lot of him in her, especially when I look into her clouded eyes. Kali loves him, and seems to understand things about him, even though she has never met him. She is even taking gunblade training, so she can be a gunblade specialist, just like him. But, Kali has never been able to use magic, or a even GF for that matter. I believe that it was her power that helped me send Seifer off of that boat. She used up so much power as an unborn baby, that she will never be able to attain it now.   
  
Right now, I am in the office of our dorm. On the mantle across from my desk is Squall's gunblade that I keep there as though it protects us from any wrongdoings. Our wedding picture also sits atop the mantle place, a baby picture of Kali and Squall's leather jacket in a case. I have been collecting these memories, to explain to Kali the whole story of your death, Squall. I can hear Kali in her bedroom, breathing softly in her sleep. This morning I know that she will wake up upset as she does each year on this day. It is father-daughter day for the SeeDs and cadets. I know how much you would have liked to spend it with her, Squall. She is one of the few girls here, that cannot celebrate this day because she does not have a father. Sometimes Zell or Irvine would accompany her to the festivities, until they began to have daughters of their own to share it with. This year I'm keeping her in. I'm going to tell her the surroundings of your death, Squall, so she can fully understand everything. I have never told her the entire story, because I felt that it is too morbid for her young mind, with all the deception and lies of close friends. Also, I feel that I have never been strong enough to tell her. I know now that she is now mature enough to handle this, or else I would continue to wait until the right time.   
  
Squall, I know you'll be watching over me as I tell our daughter the circumstances of your death. You will help me to tell our daughter, that nothing either good or bad, nothing lasts forever.   
  
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I'm really sorry about the long wait! I know this isn't the ending you all wanted, but I've been thinking about making it like this since I wrote a second chapter, you can even see in the note on chapter 2 that I wanted to make it a tragedy. But, that is why I've been writing in the povs I have been writing in. I hope I did a good job on this, but you will all let me know right? Please?  
~Jess~ 


	20. Author's Note: My thanks to you all!

Hey its me again, Jess, and I want to write down a bunch of thanks to everyone!  
  
Thank you guys for all my reviews, without them, I would have ended this at Chapter 1! I really love the way this came out, thank you guys SO MUCH!  
  
Very special thanks to these people, for making me feel like I'm a good writer by putting me on their favorites list!:  
RoMayDrako   
Lady Morgaine My friend Angela, she writes very good LotR stories! And I get to know inside info hehe.  
Kayah  
Frost   
Seth soldier   
shinimegami   
Akira Makie   
Angel of Fate   
Cody the Impaler Cody was always there emailing me, which a lot of the time got me to writing when I was too lazy. Oops….  
LilSheepi for putting me on her favorite stories lists, and keeping me entertained with her comedy!  
KaitonBomb My best friend, even though she is lazy and doesn't write, and isn't helping with a story that a few of my friends are writing.  
Maths for putting me on your favorite stories list, and accepting my comments with a smile!  
AngelWingsOfALion for reviewing and putting me on your favs!  
  
Everyone else who has put me on their favorite stories, (it won't tell me who you are)! Thank you SOOO much, I feel so honored!  
  
Thanks to Square, for without their Final Fantasies, I definetly wouldn't be writing this.  
  
Oh yea, and to Fanfiction.net, because otherwise, I wouldn't have started this, and if I did, I wouldn't have ended it!  
  
If anyone wants me to explain anything, I'd be happy to! Just email me and make sure to write FANFIC in big letters so I don't delete it.  
  
Thanks again everyone! Keep reading and writing!  
  
~Jess~ 


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